


2 AM Floor Confessions

by Ariaexai



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Attempt at Humor, But it’s 6+1, Canon Compliant, Drunken Shenanigans, Flirting, Humor, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Taeten-centric, hopefully, kind of?, possibly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:34:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 47,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24112144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariaexai/pseuds/Ariaexai
Summary: “Oh, really? Like… like? Or like, like-like?”Ten has to replay that last part in his head more times than he’d care to admit. “Like, like-like. I think.”Or...6 Times the Dreamies try to help Ten confess and 1 time they actually do
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Lee Taeyong/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 67
Kudos: 223





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning and referenced Vlive are based on the 180709 Vlive with Taeyong, Ten, and Jisung. So if you wanted to place a time for this, it’s like mid 2018 I guess 
> 
> For some reason the Vienna sausage part came up and it somehow spiraled into this fic idea

It’s one of those nights in the Dreamie dorm.

And by one of those nights Ten means when they’re all crowded around a frying pan eating Vienna sausages at 2 a.m. in the morning like drunkards.

It’s no pad thai but it’s sad to say he’s had worse.

Sharing a dorm with the youngest members of NCT has awakened a level of patience and tolerance inside of him that he didn’t know was even possible. The other members really should give him more credit; it takes a certain amount of not-giving-a-fuck to deal with what goes on behind these walls. 

The smell of frying oil had drawn Ten from his slumber and he had wandered into the hallway, half-asleep and half-pissed off, to discover what the hell they were doing. None of the lights were on, except for a dim glow coming from the kitchen. And it was quiet. _Too_ quiet. The permeating smell of cooked meat was already a dead giveaway that they were up to something, but the dorm being silent? Ten would see pigs fly before he’d see a peaceful Dream dorm. 

It hadn’t really surprised him when the Dreamies, minus Mark and Haechan (they don’t know the bullet they missed by being in 127), had entered his vision like raccoons caught in a trash can, heads swiveled towards him, eyes wide and cheeks bulging, with a still steaming pan in the middle of their loose circle on the ground.

Apparently, a few of the members had gotten the late-night cravings, and instead of acting like rational people and eating a snack or something else that was pre-made, or you know, _waiting until the morning_ , Jaemin had decided that those tiny sausages were the only solution to sate their hunger.

Ten had blinked once before slowly closing his eyes, and mentally counting down from ten. There was also a bit of a soul-searching moment, wondering if chasing his Korean idol dream was worth this living situation. He had given them all an emotionless look —which ironically expressed enough emotion to get his current mood across— , looked down at the food, and looked back up before slowly groaning out, “Why? Just why? For whom exactly?”

For a moment, no one had said anything, but then Jisung’s soft, deep tone broke the awkward silence between them. “For us... you too if you want some. Dig in, Ten.” 

Ten may be a little more lenient and carefree than other members are, but he’s not irresponsible; he’s the adult here and adults do the right thing. 

That being said, he’s awake now, and food is _right there_ … so if they’re going to eat, they need condiments too.

So here he is, sitting on the floor munching on sausages with mayonnaise (unfortunately they didn’t have ketchup) and contemplating his life’s choices so far. He doubts anyone else would believe what’s going on right now, it’s all so strange… and unsanitary.

Ten’s also going to blame this absolutely ridiculous situation at such a weird time for making him forget his inhibitions and letting him say what comes out of his mouth next. 

“I’ve been thinking, and I can now confidently say that I like Taeyong.” 

Chenle gives him a quizzical glance, before mumbling, “Oh, really? Like… like? Or like, _like-like_?” 

Ten has to replay that last part in his head more times than he’d care to admit. “Like, _like-like_. I think.” 

“Cool.”

“Yep.” Ten plops another sausage in his mouth, and between bites adds, “I think I've liked him for a long time now.”

“Wow,” Renjun says. “Since when?”

“Maybe since our trainee days? I don’t really have an exact time but I do know our recent Baby Don’t Stop promotions kind of solidified my feelings.”

At the mention of Taeyong and his duet song, Chenle and Jisung share a sly look. “Stop, baby don’t stop.” Ten shakes his head and holds in a giggle as they whisper the chorus phrase with matching grins. 

Renjun ignores the two, far used to their antics by now. “What do you like about him? I mean, we all like Taeyong hyung, but what makes him mean even more to you?”  
  
This is also why it’s bad for him to stay up and late-night eat.

He gets sappy.

“Taeyong is impossible not to like, obviously. But being around him a lot as of late, just the two of us, I feel like I know him more. I’ve seen how considerate, hardworking, and kind he is and it’s all pure him. He makes me feel better and less stressed just by calling my name. That’s just scraping the surface. If you really want to know I have a ton more reasons why, but we’d be here for the rest of the night so I’ll spare you from everything else.”

Ten pauses as a subdued hum of agreement rises from the others present. “You all don’t seem very surprised about this. I literally exposed my deepest secret to you; no one else knows yet. I expected a lot more, I don’t know, shock, energy... anything.” 

Jaemin looks him right in the eyes as he liberally coats a sausage with mayo. “Hyung, it’s the dead of night and we’re eating floor sausages. I don’t even really remember cooking these.”

“You make a compelling point.”

“So are you going to confess? What are you planning on doing?”

“Don’t know yet. Oh wait, I don’t even know if he likes guys,” Ten groans. “None of this matters if he doesn’t swing that way.”

Renjun shrugs. “Call now and ask him.”

Ten raises a finger, mouth open to refute about how he can’t just ask him, but then he realizes… why can’t he? He’s already done so much tonight he never thought he’d ever do, what’s one more thing? “I… never thought about doing that. Will he even be up?”

“It’s Taeyong hyung, he’ll pick up if he is or he’ll force himself to wake up and take it if he isn’t.” 

Ten takes out his phone and quickly scrolls through his contacts to Taeyong’s, which he has lovingly nicknamed “❤️Yongie❤️.” The double hearts may be overkill but he’s preparing for the future here.

The Dreamies’ expectant attention is like liquid courage as he manages to press the call button without hesitation or trembling fingers. The line stays silent for a few seconds before Taeyong’s rough voice comes through the speaker. “Ten? It’s... 2:30 in the morning?” 

“Taeyong ssi! Hey, how’s it going? Don’t answer that. Lets play a game, you ask me a question and then I do the same back.” 

Confusion joins the tiredness in Taeyong’s voice as he murmurs seemingly more to himself than to Ten, “Taeyong ssi? Why am I Taeyong ssi…”

He coughs and sheepishly amends, “Ah, that’s off topic. Not that I don’t like talking to you, but why do you want to do this now?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay… what’s your favorite time-of-day?”

“Black. My turn, are you into dudes?” 

It’s apparent to Ten that his immediate reply has taken Taeyong by surprise as the latter chokes on nothing and sputters,“T-That’s not—”

“Answer now please.”

“I-I… yeah, wha—”

“ _Okthatwasfunweshoulddothisagainbye_.”

Ten promptly hangs up and gives the Dreamies a tight-lipped smile. “Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. Now that I know I have a chance, got any ideas for a confession, I’m open to any and all.”

Cheshire Cat-like grins start to appear on their faces, and Ten realizes that he might have put too much faith into that statement. “Scratch that, I’m open to all reasonable suggestions. My definition of reasonable, not yours.”

“Awww… you’re missing out, I could’ve had a jet and pyrotechnics here by Tuesday,” Chenle whines.

“Pyro— in what world do you need pyrotechnics to confess to someone?”

“A rich one,” Jisung mutters.

Jaemin clasps his hands together, expression full of excitement. “You’ve asked the right people—”

“I'm starting to question if I did.”

“—We’ll come up with a full-proof confession for you, guaranteed.” If Ten has learned anything from living with these people, it’s that he can’t trust a word that comes out of any of their mouths.

Well, except for Jeno sometimes. He’s sweet if he’s not with the others; they’re mischievous influences.

Said Dreamie, who had been casually listening to their whirlwind of a conversation, showcases his killer eye smiles as he speaks up. “Give us some time though, I’m not sure any of us are coming up with anything good right now.”

He side-eyes Chenle, who brings a hand up to his chest in mock offense. “Hey, mine was a perfectly reasonable suggestion! Hyung’s just a hater.”

Ten knows he’s not thinking straight —he really needs to lay off these nighttime food trysts— because he actually agrees to their help. The Dreamies’ craziness must be getting to him.

“This is such a good bonding experience. We should do this more often.”

“Yeah! Let’s eat off the floor every weekend!”

Okay, maybe not as much as he thought.

“Hahaha, no.”

**I.**

He would have dismissed that night as a weird fever dream if Jisung hadn’t approached him a few days later. 

“Hyung?” Ten looks up from his bed and sees the youngest Dream member standing in the hallway. 

“Jisungie, come in,” Ten quickly sits up and pats the space besides him invitingly, “what do you need?” 

Jisung smiles and settles in next to the older, who wraps his arms around him tightly with a laugh. “Ah Ten hyung, Jaemin already does this enough to me! I’m not a baby.”

Ten grins and squeezes him one more time before releasing him. “You’re six years younger than me. You’re a baby. But anyways, what did you want me for?” 

“I’ve come up with a way you can confess to Taeyong hyung.” 

Ten leans back against his wall, eyebrows rising in surprise. “Oh. I forgot in my moment of food-induced weakness that I said that. You guys really want to help me?” 

“Yeah, we’re all very invested in this,” Jisung replies with an earnest tone, “You and him are a good team, and I know you’d both be happy together.” He fiddles with his hands before adding, “This also gets us out of studying.” 

“That last part isn’t going to slide, you know,” Ten teases, “but I’ll allow it just this time since it’s to help me out.”

“Okay, so I thought that you should make him a cake.”

“A cake, huh?” Ten mulls it over. Taeyong does like desserts quite a bit.

Jisung nods. “I was thinking back to our Vlive with him a few days ago, and he was talking about food a lot and showing us his own meals. I think he’d be impressed if you made something on the level of his own skill.”

That Vlive had been fun. Ten blushes as he remembers how content Taeyong had seemed that day, chatting and having fun with the filters. It was a nice opportunity to just chill with him and Jisung, never mind the fact the older is his crush as well, so any time with him is welcomed. At the end, Taeyong had even called him _adorable_. Well, he called Jisung adorable as well, but Jisung’s their maknae so by definition he’s already cute.

“I also remember how it felt like I was third-wheeling the entire time, especially since I knew you were flirting with him.”

Ten flushes harder and lightly smacks Jisung as he gives him a look. “I was not obvious.”

“I remember you reaching around me to scratch his chin like a cat. I also recall you saying something along the lines of _hyung, you looked so sexy during the photo shoot_.”

“...That could have been interpreted as anything.”

Jisung rolls his eyes and checks his phone. “Sure, hyung. I have plans with the others, so find a recipe you think he’ll like and we’ll help get him here when it’s done.”

“One problem, I don’t know how to bake a cake.”

“Not an issue, we’ll help you. The others and I are used to working together for Dream promotions, so I bet our teamwork will be just as strong in the kitchen as it is on stage.” He holds a fist up in the air and gives Ten a determined look. “You can count on us.”

This is actually shaping out to be a really good plan. He can already imagine the look on Taeyong’s face when he gives it to him; he’ll gasp, eyes becoming impossibly wide, and give him a cute glance filled with longing as if asking if it’s really for him. Then, he’ll laugh his breathless laugh, before sending him a look that never fails to make his legs weak, and say in that low, warm voice of his, “thank you, Tennie.” That’s when he’ll confess and as they lean in for a kiss, Taeyong will say, “Ten……. hyung…... Earth to hyung....”

“I can’t believe you were already spacing out about this,” Jisung says with an exasperated tone as Ten realizes he was daydreaming and heat rushes to his face.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Jisungie?”

“Find a recipe, hyung. After that you won’t need to daydream, you’ll have the real thing.”   
.

.

.  
After much internet scouring and what felt like hundreds upon hundreds of cake recipes, Ten thinks he’s finally found the perfect one. Taeyong likes green tea and strawberries, so he’ll make him a cake with just that. By using strawberries he can also make the frosting pink, which is Taeyong’s favorite color; it’s like killing two birds with one stone. Normally, he wouldn’t touch a strawberry with a five-foot stick, but this is for love, so he’ll endure.  
  
The Dreamies, minus Haechan and Mark, had practically vibrated from excitement once they had gotten the A okay to help out in the kitchen, and they had taken the liberty to buy all of the ingredients themselves and get the whole area prepped. He has to admit it was all very impressive; they got hustle.

The bad part is after that promising start, everything kind of went downhill. Jaemin had started berating Renjun on his strawberry slicing skills, saying things like “ _nooo Renjunie those are too thick_ ” or “ _now they’re too thin_ ,” prompting the older to forgo his duties to instead wave the knife threateningly at his cheeky groupmate. Maybe he should have given Renjun a different job, one that didn’t involve sharp objects.

Jisung and Chenle are hunched over the stovetop, the younger reading directions off of his phone to a confused Chenle, who pokes the contents of the pot like he’s just discovered a new element. All they have to make is a strawberry glaze. “How do we know if it’s ready?”

“Uh, it says it should boil.”

“Strawberries boil? I thought only water boiled.”

Should he be worried? Nah, they’ll figure it out.

Ten goes to check on the cake batter. By no means is he a chef, but he’s pretty sure it shouldn’t look like a sad mound of wet sand. “Hey, Jeno? Why is this so granular and not-at-all fluffy? It’s not even green.”

Jeno looks over from where he’d been playing with Jaemin, poking each others’ noses with powdered sugar. Ten almost wants to break their little PDA party up. It's so cute and mushy and damn it, he’s getting jealous.

_God, I wish that were me and Taeyong._

“Oh sorry, we got distracted. Jaemin got bored after mixing it for a few seconds.”

“It’s an electric mixer though… but besides that, why is it not very batter-like? Did you put all of the ingredients in?”

“Of course we did hyung,” Jaemin announces proudly as he lists off the ingredients, “we added the vanilla extract, eggs, sugar…”

“Flour? Green tea?” Renjun deadpans as he holds up unopened bags in each hand.

“AH-HA. Not those. I knew we missed something important.” Jaemin flashes a grin to Jeno, who only groans and places his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Sorry.”

Ten bristles, but covers it up with a lazy wave and a sigh. “That’s okay, I’ll just add the dry mix now.” Renjun helps him measure out the correct amounts of the dry ingredients into a bowl, and as he starts to walk towards the mixer, two things happen.

One: Chenle and Jisung leap back from the stove, screaming their lungs out as flames erupt from the pot and two: they jump back directly into his path, causing him to stumble and drop the bowl.

With a ringing bang, all of its contents are expelled into the air and a cloud of flour envelops the entire kitchen, including themselves.

Now everyone’s screaming.

Great.

“FIRE! THAT’S A FREAKIN’ FIRE! NOW I CAN’T SEE!”

There’s flour on his clothes, in his hair, and probably in places Ten doesn’t even know he has, but he really can’t focus on that right now. Quickly rubbing the mix from his eyes he’s alarmed to see Jisung frantically shaking a cloth at the flames as Jeno hesitantly tries to place the lid over the top.

“TAEYONG HYUNG! GET OVER HERE, THERE’S A FIRE AND WE’RE TOO HOT AND YOUNG TO DIE!” Chenle screams into his phone as a low voice on the other end says something he can’t make out.

Hold the phone, did he say Taeyong?

“Nonononono, Taeyong don’t come over here please,” Ten counters, trying to keep his voice level, “I have it all covered! RENJUN! FIRE EXTINGUISHER! NOW!”

“Ten!?” Taeyong’s concerned voice breaks over the speaker, loud and clear even through all of the commotion. “Fire!? I’m coming over.” The call cuts out.

“Chenle, why did you call him out of everyone!” Ten whines as Renjun throws him the extinguisher. “Ughhhh, I didn’t even get to start on the frosting.”

He grabs the metal canister with a sure grip and puts one hand on the nozzle. “Unless you want to get whip-creamed, you’ll move away from the stove right this second.”

Jisung and Jeno jerk back as he releases the white foam onto the blaze and doesn’t let up until a heaping pile covers the whole counter.

Thankfully, the smoke hadn’t triggered the building’s fire alarm and sprinkler system, which, now that he thinks about it, isn’t a good sign in the whole scheme of things. But that’s something to worry about later.

Ten glances at the Dreamies, who all wear similar expressions of shock, faces white, and not just from the flour. Placatingly, he puts his hands out like that one velociraptor scene in Jurassic World. “No one got burned, hurt, or traumatized… too much?”

He gets a chorus of dazed “yeahs” as a response. Good enough.

“Okay, so everything’s just peachy. Let’s clean this place up before Taeyong gets here.”

Life must have a vendetta against him or something of the sort, as right as his crush’s name leaves his lips, the front door slams open and there’s hurried footsteps before Taeyong bursts into their sight, hair matted against his face and chest heaving. “Where’s the fire!?”

He stops just outside the room, and gapes at the kitchen. Ten resists the urge to hide behind the counter and pretend he doesn’t exist.

“Um… hey Taeyong hyung,” Jisung starts off with a small wave, “Ten hyung took care of it...” he gestures to the toothpaste-like glob, “kinda.” 

“I can see that.” He walks further into the kitchen and stops again when his sneakers meet the mess on the floor. “What were you guys doing?” 

Ten feels all the Dreamies’ eyes dart to him as Taeyong gives him a questioning glance. “We were making a cake.” He mentally hits himself; why is it so hard to lie to Taeyong and his beautiful face? 

Taeyong carefully moves to the counter and squints down at a bowl. He picks up a flour-dusted strawberry and examines it like a jewel. “Strawberries? You hate fruit.” 

“It was for the Dreamies. They wanted to make a strawberry cake so being the responsible adult around here I decided to help them out, _right_?” Ten wheezes out and hopes that’s a convincing enough story.

“Yeah, that’s totally the believable circumstance behind this completely chaotic event—ow.” Chenle rubs his arm as Renjun draws his hand back with a glare. 

Ten can see in Taeyong’s wide eyes that there’s more that he wants to ask, probably why they’re all covered in flour and exude more nervous tension than a chihuahua, but thankfully he just chuckles and let’s his lips curl into a relieved smile. “I’m just glad you’re all okay.”

They all let out a collective breath of relief, and Ten feels a light nudge come from Jaemin. The grinning Dreamie gives him an exaggerated wink and a thumbs up, and when Taeyong turns around to assess the damage to the stove, Ten ushers them all out of the kitchen into the hallway with a stern, “ _Go and get cleaned up_.” 

As the Dreamies flee the scene, Ten looks back to see Taeyong staring at him with a fond expression, arms crossed over his chest. The stutter in his heart and his suddenly dry throat does nothing to help ease him into acting nonchalantly, but he manages to collect himself enough to mumble, “You don’t need to stay if you don’t want to. I can clean it up.”

“It looks like you need all the help you can get,” Taeyong laughs and rolls up the sleeves of his shirt. Ten is _not_ going to stare at his forearms and the flex of the lean muscle underneath his skin. 

That’s a lie, but at least he won’t be conspicuous about it.

As he puts his hands on his hips, Taeyong gives him a lopsided smirk that looks downright seductive instead of the playful he was probably going for. “I don’t mind getting down and dirty with you.” 

Holy shit. He did not just say that. There’s no way he said that. It’s like he’s taunting him.

“W-What was that last part?”

Taeyong frowns and awkwardly shuffles in place. “I don’t mind getting down and dirty with you to clean this floor? It’s covered in flour.” 

“Oh yeah, of course that’s what you meant. Suit yourself,” Ten croaks and motions towards their closest, “There’s some cleaning supplies in there.”

They spend a good portion of time wiping up the mess that his love cake turned out to be. Thankfully, his one-sided wariness to the other had dissipated soon after they got to work; another thing that Ten loves about Taeyong is how calming he can make any situation feel like. They don’t talk a lot, but Ten doesn’t find the need to fill the silence with anything except the crinkle of trash bags and the spritz of cleaning solution. He’s just finished throwing away the burnt pot when Taeyong comes up to him with a wet washcloth. “The stovetop is clean, but I think there’s one more thing that you missed.”

Taeyong giggles when Ten gives him a confused look, mouth parted slightly. He lifts the cloth to Ten’s face and gently starts wiping away flour. “You're completely white like a ghost, Tennie.”

There’s an electric spark when his fingers make contact with Taeyong’s as Ten grabs the washcloth, unable to handle their close proximity and the other’s doting eyes. It’s too domestic and exactly like how he’s always dreamed Taeyong would look at him if he liked him. Ten uses the cloth as an excuse to hide his reddening cheeks. “I must have forgotten about myself.”

“Couldn’t have you going out looking like that,” the older replies and brushes some flour from Ten’s dark hair. A phone dings, and they both look towards Taeyong’s on the counter. Taeyong scoops it up and Ten watches as he puts on his ‘professional’ face before bringing it up to his ear. There’s some chatter on the other end, and he makes an affirmative hum before hanging up. “Sorry, I have to go.”

“It’s okay. Thanks for the help.”

Taeyong gives him a cute smile in response but before he leaves, he goes back to the one part of the recipe that didn’t end up in the trash, the strawberries. He picks up one like before, but this time he eats it, chewing slowly as a look of surprise crosses his face and his eyes light up.

“Did you use green tea powder in the flour mix?” Taeyong cheerily asks, bringing another slice to his mouth, “I love green tea and strawberries. Can I take these?”

Ten nods and pure happiness seems to radiate from Taeyong. He’s so disorientingly bright, Ten wants to cry and kiss him at the same time. “Thanks Tennie! See you later!”

“You too...”

It’s not until he hears the front door has shut behind the other that Ten sighs and wearily leans against the counter. “I know you love green tea and strawberries because this cake was supposed to be for you.”

Whatever, this is only a minor setback. He’s sure there will be plenty of other opportunities and if he knows the Dreamies, they're probably brainstorming their next plan right this second.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ty for all ur kind comments <3 they really help motivate me!

II.

Ten’s in the living room, minding his own business and certainly not moping from their disaster of a baking attempt, when from the hallway there’s movement and hushed whispers. Carefully setting down his IPad, Ten turns fully towards the direction of the noise and waits for the Dreamies to enter into the room. Surprisingly, they don’t show.

“I feel like I’m going to get jumped,” Ten mumbles just loud enough for the Dreamies to hear as he sends a look towards the hall. 

He’s met with more hushed chatter.

Interesting.

As silently as possible, Ten rises from the couch and slinks across the floor like a cat on the hunt, making sure he’s mindful of the creaky floorboards. He stops and hugs the wall as he reaches the entrance, and peers around the corner. 

Facing away from him with their heads down, the Dreamies are huddled around a phone, completely invested in whatever is on the screen. 

A sly idea worms it’s way into Ten’s mind; he sneaks up behind them and leisurely inserts himself right at the back of the group next to Chenle. From this position he can’t see what’s on the phone, but there’s a voice coming through the speaker. It sounds… familiar. 

Ten shoves his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and waits for any of them to realize he’s right next to them. When nothing changes, a quick glance to the side reveals that the younger teen hasn’t taken his attention off of the phone. Rolling his eyes, Ten leans forward and whispers in a tone higher than normal, “So what are we looking at?”

“We’re talking about Ten hyung’s next confession idea,” Chenle whispers back, eyes never looking away. 

“Ten hyung you say?” Ten asks back as a grin breaks through his aloof facade. He moves ever so closer to the other who’s still ignorant to his identity. 

“Yeah.”

Ten absentmindedly plays with one of the many earrings he has on. “Where is Ten hyung right now?”

“In the living room, but don’t tell him we’re here yet.”

“Lele.”

“Yeah?”

“Who am I?”

“You’re Ten hyung… TEN HYUNG!” Chenle shouts, causing the rest of the Dreamies to jump and turn around in surprise. Ten laughs and waves. “You called?” 

“Ahhhh! Why are we screaming!? What happened!?” The voice from the phone yells, and at this new position Ten can make out its distinguishing features; high-ish and a bit nasally… his giddy attitude dies instantly.

Oh no. Why does  _ he _ know?

“Why are you guys talking to  _ Donghyuck _ about my confession!” Ten asks, completely flabbergast. “Unless he astrally projected into the kitchen that night, and he sure as hell can’t, I didn’t tell him.”

“Hey, was that Ten hyung? Hyung, hey! It’s me, Donghyuck! Haechan! Your favorite maknae! I didn’t know you had the hots for Taeyong hyung.” 

He can tell the exact moment the Dreamies go from shocked to avoidant. Strangely, none of them can look him in the eye anymore; the walls and floor must be pretty interesting. Too bad for them he’s not budging. 

Jaemin regains his composure first, and flinches a bit in response to Ten’s scowl. “Uh, so I know this wasn’t a part of the plan, but someone...”

Immediately, everyone points to him; Jaemin waves them off with a lazy grin but Ten swears he hears him murmur “ _ traitors _ .” “I’m not going to say  _ who _ , but someone —could have been anyone really— may have accidentally, mistakingly, unintentionally, unwittingly, carelessly...”

“Preferably, I want to hear this before I turn 80,” Ten says as he brings his wrist up to look at an imaginary watch. Damn, Jaemin can talk fast.

“Naively, randomly, casually, in-the-moment told him about your situation during a friendly conversation,” Jaemin finishes in one go. “I mean… you were going to tell him eventually right?”

Jeno, who had been holding the phone, holds it outwards again to show their FaceTime. In the middle of the screen, Donghyuck pouts as he asks, “Yeah, weren’t you? I am a Dreamie so it would only be fair since you told everyone there already.”

Now it’s his turn to be sheepish. Ten offers him a straight smile as he wrings his hands together. “I was going to. Sometime. Probably.” 

“Hyung, you totally weren’t going to tell me, were you!?” Donghyuck dramatically accuses as he closes his eyes and holds his head. “What a betrayal.”

“You can stop with the theatrics, I  _ was _ ,” Ten groans, “But you work with Taeyong a lot more than the others, nevertheless live with him, and you being…  _ you _ —don’t give me that look I didn’t mean that in a bad way— I was worried you might spill it to him.” 

Donghyuck narrows his eyes. “You trust Nana and the others, who, if we’re being honest here, aren’t much better than me.” 

“Well, I  _ did _ but that was before I learned he blabbed to you in the blink of an eye. I should have known, you guys are like gossipy old ladies in teenage bodies.” 

“I’m pretty sure that was an insult, but I’m gonna take it as a compliment.”

“He knows now, and nothing can change that,” Renjun sighs, “But honestly I think he’s a good addition. They always say the more the merrier.” 

“See? I’m fine and trustworthy! Injoonnie, I love yooouuu,” Donghyuck proclaims as he makes kissy lips at the screen.

“We’ll be more careful from now on, hyung,” Jisung says, “No one else will know if you don’t want them to know.”

“You all are lucky you’re my cute dongsaengs.” Ten scowls once more. “No more secretive hallway huddling and making unauthorized additions to the group.”

Everyone nods their agreement, but a weird expression soon crosses Jeno’s face. 

“What’s wrong babe? You look constipated,” Jaemin coos as he grabs his hands. 

“If Donghyuck knows, and you’re telling everyone in Dream, shouldn’t we tell Mark hyung too?” 

Ten shrugs. “I guess I ca—”

“DON’T TELL HIM!” Donghyuck loudly interrupts, before flinching and covering his mouth, eyes looking up and away from the screen. Through the silence there’s a distant sound of footsteps and murmuring, before it goes quiet again. He waits another second and uncovers his mouth before whispering, “Don’t tell him!”

Chenle grabs the phone from Jeno and brings the screen closer to his face. “Are you in a bathroom stall?”

“Yeah… technically we have practice right now and I  _ should  _ be at the studio with the hyungs but Jisung texted me that you were talking about this now and I didn’t want to miss out,” Donghyuck admits. “So I’m hiding from them.” 

“Ooooooo I’m calling Mark hyung,” Jaemin sing-songs as he reaches for his own phone. 

Donghyuck’s face goes blank. “You do and you’ll have to sleep with one eye open.” 

“No one's calling Mark or threatening anyone with nighttime attacks,” Ten says as Jaemin holds up his own phone with Mark’s contact info and brings a finger to the call button in slo-mo. “ _ Nana _ . Forget about that, Donghyuck, why don’t you want him to know?” 

“Ten hyung, think about it! He’s even more close to Taeyong hyung than I am, that means more opportunities for him to find out. He’s too much of a risk.” 

“I’m pretty close to him too, you know. He would probably listen if I told him to keep it on the down low.”

Donghyuck gives him a look as if to say  _ are you serious right now _ ? “What if he’s closer to Taeyong hyung though? What if Taeyong hyung gets suspicious and Mark rats on us?”

Ten returns the younger’s look of skepticism. “Are you making this into a debate about who Mark likes better?”

“Not at all, I’m just stating the facts. And the fact is that Mark would be our weak link and potentially ruin the whole operation.” 

Renjun smirks and aims an accusatory finger at the screen. “You just want to have this secret all to yourself so you can hold it over his head, don’tcha?” 

“My ulterior motives are nothing of your concern, I only want Ten hyung to succeed and myself to play some role in his confession.” 

“Okay, if it’ll make you feel better, I won’t tell Mark,” Ten concedes. “For now at least.” 

“Good enough for me. Now let’s get back to the main issue at hand: your next chance to confess,” Donghyuck says. 

At that, Ten straightens up and looks around to the others present. “From your enthusiasm I’m guessing you’ve already come up with something.” 

Chenle cackles and throws an arm over his shoulder. “Just something? We have so many ideas.” Ten gives him an eyebrow raise. “Don’t worry, they’re all ‘reasonable.’”

“We have a backup for this latest idea, and then a backup for that backup, and if the backup’s backup fails we have a backup for that backup… you get the picture,” Jisung explains. Chenle nods and adds, “But we won’t need any of those, because my idea is perfect.” 

“The confidence is good.” 

“A question for you, Ten hyung,” Chenle asks, “What is the language of love?”

Ten looks off to the side as he tries to come up with an answer. “Isn’t it French?” 

“No.”

“I’m pretty sure it is.”

“Not for this question it isn’t.”

“What? Fine, Spanish then?”

“DANCE. The answer is dance.” 

“Dance isn’t a language.”

“It’s a  _ body  _ language.”

“Why would I guess that? I don’t know, Lele, this is already starting off kinda rocky. Jisungie’s beating you in execution points right now,” Ten jokes as the Chinese teen pouts. 

“Jisung is a worthy opponent,” Chenle mumbles, “but his idea didn’t work.” 

“I wonder whose fault that was?” Ten asks aloud, snickering as they all give him a look. “Kidding… kind of.”

“As I was explaining, dance is a good way to express yourself and emotion, it’s art. You should know that especially. The next time you meet up with Taeyong hyung to practice, you should make your move then.”

“So… I should flirt with him… using my body?”

“Woah, woah, woah! Keep it PG, there are minors present,” Jaemin chides as he makes to cover Jisung and Chenle’s ears. 

Renjun scoffs as Jisung and Chenle back away from Jaemin’s grabby hands. “You say that as if all of us here, excluding hyung, aren’t still minors.” 

“It’s different with our cute maknaes.”

Before they can go at it any further, Chenle raises his voice. “Hey, you guys are interrupting my detailed explanation of  _ my _ plan. Hyung, you completely missed the artistic and meaningful value of my idea. I was planning on having you come up with a complete choreographed piece… but I realize that’s too high maintenance. Just reel him in with your moves, and when you have him right where you want him, BAM! Hit him with your confession.”

“You’re basically telling me I’m going to act like one of those birds of paradise. The ones that look like they try too hard and look foolish.”

Chenle lifts his hands up. “You said it, not me.”

“It would show you if he’s interested in you; if he doesn’t react badly to your flirting then you’ll know your feelings are mutual,” Jeno says. 

Ten snorts at that. “Taeyong is not an easy person to get your feelings across to. I’m sure I could be  _ very  _ forward and he would think I was just being friendly. Another reason is that he’s so… polite. He won’t assume anything because he doesn’t want to potentially offend anyone.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard someone use ‘acting like a decent human being’ as a flaw.”

“If you need to be more direct maybe you should twer—”

“Hyuckie, I could have any of the other members on the phone in an instant telling them where you are if you finish that sentence.” That shuts him up fast. Ten takes the newfound silence to run through the plan again. “So I’m going to get him alone with me in a practice room, dance… flirt, and then confess.” 

It’s not as romantic as a homemade cake would have been, not by a long shot, but it’ll get his point across. Taeyong is an enigma when it comes to what will get through to him, so he’s pretty open time trying anything. Dance is an important factor in both of their lives and being with Taeyong on stage is one of the times Ten really feels connected with him; hopefully Taeyong feels the same. 

“Ten Hyung’s Confession- Attempt 2 is a go!” Donghyuck cheers, but it’s soon cut off by the sound of a door opening. 

“Donghyuck! I knew I heard you! Guys, he’s in here!” Mark’s exasperated voice comes over the speaker. Donghyuck’s eyes widen while Ten and the others watch as the view goes shaky as shrieks fill the air. 

“NOOOO! I’M NOT DONE!” 

“YOU HAVE NOT BEEN GOING TO THE BATHROOM FOR THIS LONG.”

“DON’T ACT LIKE YOU KNOW MY BATHROOM HABITS.”

The door slams open again and a new set of footsteps grow closer. “Do you know how much practice time we’ve wasted trying to find you?” A voice seethes with barely concealed anger. The video call ends just as the stall door is opened, shining light onto Donghyuck’s horrified face as the blur of a hand grabs his arm.

No one takes their eyes off of the black screen for a few moments afterwards.

“Is he… you know…  _ dead _ ?” Jisung hesitantly whispers. 

Jeno looks up. “That was Doyoung hyung’s voice, yeah?” 

Renjun solemnly nods. “He’s a goner.” 

.

.

.

_ Hat or no hat?  _

Ten stands in front of his full length mirror as he poses without a baseball cap on, and then pulls one over his hair and gives the mirror a sultry gaze. He keeps the pose for a few seconds before blushing in embarrassment and looking away.

Gosh, he’s like a high school girl with their first crush. 

He decides to opt out on the hat; it covers his eyes and those are one of his best features. Ten looks at his wardrobe one last time before grabbing his bag and phone. He’s wearing a black sleeveless shirt with comfy sweats, hopefully that’s good enough to showcase all that he has to offer. Dressing up too much for a simple dance practice would be too suspicious. 

After sending a quick text to Taeyong, Ten hurries out of his room and enters the main living area. There’s a few Dreamies lounging about, and they cheer as he reaches the front door. 

“Go get em’, Ten hyung!”

“Taeyong hyung won't know what hit him!” 

Ten laughs as he exits. “I hope so.” 

He makes it to the practice room in record time and finds that he’s the first one to show. He had managed to ask Taeyong if he wanted to meet him at a studio off schedule; that way they could practice at their own pace or just goof off (or flirt). Thankfully, Taeyong had some free time in his schedule, so they had quickly set a meetup date.

By the time Taeyong arrives, Ten has a tentative plan in mind. He’s taken out of his thoughts as the door opens, and Taeyong walks in.

“Good morning Ten!” The elder is wearing a loose fitting T-shirt with sweats, complete with a pair of self-customized sneakers. He’s so effortlessly stylish. Ten closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. 

_ Okay, Ten. Suave, flirty, confident. The goal is to leave with a boyfriend. _

“Taeyong! Hi!” It comes out a little too ambitious; he clears his throat and nonchalantly adds, “How was your night?” 

“It was good; Doie, Yuta, Taeil, and I ate some supper that I whipped up together and then I worked on some projects before bed.”

Knowing Taeyong he probably made them some fancy 5-Star level meal. “That sounds nice. I had pre-packaged ramen with the Dreamies.” 

Taeyong gives him a grin. “Hopefully not on the floor.” 

“ _ Definitely _ not on the floor.” Ten raises a hand to his chest and gasps. “Do you think that low of my handling of that wild bunch?” 

“Nope. If anyone can handle them it’s you. I don’t think I could keep them in check.” Taeyong chuckles. He walks over to a chair near Ten and turns it around before sitting, letting his head rest on the back of the chair. “Did you have anything in mind for today?”

Oh does he.

Ten waltzes closer to Taeyong, carding a hand through his hair as he stops a couple of feet away and bends forward until he’s at Taeyong’s eye level, their faces about a foot apart. “I was thinking we could play-it-by-ear?” He makes sure to draw out his words and use a breathy tone.

This close, he can see the elder’s eye scar, the pores on his nearly perfect skin, make out his dark eyes semi-hidden by bangs of soft hair. Ten stares for a beat longer than what’s probably considered normal, and darts his gaze quickly towards Taeyong’s lips before looking back up. “Let’s just… go with the flow and see where we end up.” 

He straightens up and steps a few feet away, a coy smile resting on his lips as he waits for Taeyong’s reaction. Ten’s sure he’s the epitome of confidence on the outside right now, but internally he’s losing his shit. How he managed to get that close to Taeyong without dying is a miracle.

Searching Taeyong’s face, there isn't really anything in his expression indicating that any of his actions got through to him. The elder just giggles and leans back to hold onto the chair’s seat. “Sounds good with me. Whatever you want, Ten.” 

That… is not the response he wanted. Actually, it is, but there’s a distinct lack of reciprocal flirting, and that‘s a problem. Ten can feel his smile fall just a bit, but he just blinks and replies with a simple, “Okay.” 

Well, he wasn’t expecting this to be easy. 

“Yong, before we start, we have to stretch. Why don’t you watch me first and then you follow my lead?”

Is it a dirty move to use his above-average flexibility to try and seduce his crush? Maybe, but if it works he doesn’t care. 

Ten starts off with basic stretches, extending his each arm over his head and bending sideways, rolling his shoulder joints, holding his hands behind his back. Nothing too strenuous or sexy, but it does show off his lean frame. Taeyong stays quiet as he dutifully listens to Ten’s instructions.

Now it’s time for the fun stuff. Ten grins before bending forwards, hands coming to grasp his thighs as his head drops down between his legs. He holds the position for a few moments before coming back up and lifting one leg completely up flush against his side in a leg hold. He keeps his eyes trained on Taeyong’s, waiting for that subtle change in the air when he finally  _ understands _ , but Taeyong just sighs and purses his lips. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Oh, sorry. I forgot I’m so  _ flexible _ . It does come in handy in… certain situations,” Ten breathes out as he drops down into a split. He arches his torso backwards, stretching the long expanse of his neck backwards right in front of Taeyong. “Don’t you agree?”

It’s a shame; at this angle he can’t get a good view of Taeyong’s face. The slight tremble in his arms is from the strain of the pose and definitely  _ not _ because of his nerves, thrumming throughout his body and leaving him on edge. 

“I’m sure it does. A lot of our dance moves are probably easier for you, and your dancing is a lot more fluid and graceful.” 

Ten brings his head back to a normal position, hair falling just above his eyes and stares up at Taeyong, trying to replicate the sultry look he had given his mirror. “Do you think it helps make me more alluring? Am I alluring… to you?” 

“Yes. When you’re on stage, it’s hard to take my eyes off of you.” It’s said so adamantly, so open and genuine, that Ten feels a shiver run through his body. He can’t stop the hope that blooms in his chest thinking that Taeyong meant it in a more-than-friendly way. But then again, it’s Taeyong. And he’s been with him long enough to know that based off of his expression and the tone he used, he’s just being nice. 

Once again, why is Taeyong such a sweet person… he’s turning what should be a sexy moment into something heartwarming. 

“I can’t take my eyes off of you too,” Ten answers softly, “You’re so powerful and captivating. You add your own flair to every move… I love being with you on stage. I love being with you.” 

That’s the closest love confession he’s gonna say without actually saying the phrase, “I love you” directly to Taeyong’s face.

Said crush of his replies with a laugh, eyes bright with mirth. “I love being with you too. Are you bringing this up because you want to practice our Baby Don’t Stop choreo? We still have some performances coming up.” 

Ten’s mind goes blank as he brings his back leg forwards and flops onto the wooden floor, arms outstretched. He can’t do this. Is he really this bad at flirting or is Taeyong just a rock? A really, really tough, but gorgeous, rock. Why is this so hard? 

_ Don’t give up, you’re not a quitter. Just think about all the making out you can do with him once this is over.  _

Regaining his composure, he sits up and scoots closer to Taeyong. He’s already got another idea in mind.

“Hyung, lets change up the choreo a little.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Putting on his best innocent-looking face, Ten wistfully sighs and places a finger to his chin. “I want to change places during the chin scratching part. I want to know what it feels like.”

He gets a look of befuddlement as an answer. Taeyong’s stare is piercing, almost as if he’s trying to uncover the deeper reason behind his request, but thankfully Ten’s a master of appearances. He smiles wide, eyes turning into their signature crescents. “Please?” 

“S-sure, we can do that.” 

There’s a tiny stutter in his words. Ten smirks and walks over to his bag to get his phone. “Thanks Yongie.” 

Taeyong goes through his own stretching sequence, and soon after, the low, sensual bass of their duet song resonates through the speakers. As the music flows through his bones, Ten lets his body take control; the choreo is practically ingrained into his muscle memory by now. To his side, Taeyong is a well-established presence, and the squeak of their shoes merge together as they dance in synchronization. 

As the special part in their dance nears and as Ten mimes pulling Taeyong closer with a rope he can feel his heart beat faster, anticipation like butterflies in his stomach. 

Taeyong quirks a smirk right as he reaches him and Ten bends down, placing his hands onto his knees. A gentle hand touches his hair, and he feels long fingers curl against the bottom of his chin ever so delicately, like they’re afraid to hurt him. He resists the urge to close his eyes. 

Instead, Ten peers directly upwards into Taeyong’s gaze with half-lidded eyes (hopefully in a seductive way), and purrs. 

The hand at his chin freezes as Taeyong laughs. Full-on laughs. Ten blushes as the older screws his eyes shut and draws his hands back. “Ahahaha, what was that?”

Ten hides his face in his hands as he mentally screams. That was so cringe worthy, why did he think that would work? How can he salvage this? “I-I was trying to be funny. Because it’s like I’m a cat… and you scratch their chins… haha…”

He was definitely not trying to be funny, he was trying to be sexy. Obviously, Taeyong didn’t take it as such and he’s not about to tell him that was an attempt to flirt. 

Two hands gingerly touch his wrists and Ten lets Taeyong move his hands away from his face. “That was cute. You should have meowed too.” 

Upon realizing he’s not going to get anywhere this time, Ten makes the decision to stop his flirty antics. He had planned on doing a whole lot more of risqué dance moves, but it’s looking like he’ll just just end up drowning in embarrassment. He tries to keep up a cheerful face, but the stinging letdown is hard to ignore. An even worse idea plants itself into his mind; what if Taeyong knows exactly what he’s doing, but isn’t reciprocating because he doesn’t feel the same way? 

No, he can’t think like that, that’ll only make it harder for him to keep up his courage. Still… 

The disappointment must be clear on his face even through his attempt of a smile, as Taeyong shuts off the music and turns towards him with a concerned touch on his shoulder. “Ten? I wasn’t making fun of you, it really was funny and cute. Do you want to just hang out for the rest of the time? Eat some sweets and dance to whatever we want?” 

Reason #53 why he loves Taeyong: he knows exactly what to say to cheer him up. Even if his reasoning for why he’s sad isn’t exactly correct, it’s still heartwarming. Ten glances at Taeyong’s face; a patient, calm smile rests on his lips. “No fruit?” 

“Never fruit. I brought chocolate and vanilla pastries.”

“Can I pick a song?”

“It can be your whole playlist, Tennie. I just want you to be happy.” 

This might not be the ending he was hoping for, but it’s not a complete loss. With Taeyong, it’s never a waste of time. “You took the words right out of my mouth.” 

For the rest of the time, Ten stuffs himself silly with desserts to fill the hole in his heart and dances like a fool with an equally goofy Taeyong. Even though Taeyong is none the wiser to his feelings, it feels like a date. That’s enough for right now. 

“You didn’t have to walk me back,” Ten says as he and Taeyong stop right outside the door to his dorm, hours after they met up. The trek from the Dreamie dorm to the 127 one is not a short one. 

“I have more time to talk to you if I do though,” Taeyong easily responds, and Ten wants to slam his head against the wall. How can someone so immune to being smooth talked be so adept at it? It doesn’t make sense. 

Rather than choosing to give himself a brain concussion, he just hums in response. For a split second, he debates whether he should just outright tell Taeyong right now seeing as they are alone, but a sudden spike of fear stops the words in his throat. 

Ten decides to settle for a polite goodbye. “I had fun, I’ll see you around?” 

Taeyong beams and nods. “I did too. If you want to do that again just text.” He hesitates, before adding, “I always have time for you, Ten. If you ever feel stressed or worried, I’m always here. Oh, and tell the Dreamies I said hi!” He waves goodbye and begins to walk away. 

Ten waves back until the other’s lean figure disappears from sight before lowering his hand. “Can’t really tell you about what’s stressing me out because you're the reason.”

His hand touches the door handle, but something doesn’t feel right. Ten slowly puts his ear to the wood, and holds his breath. There’s nothing at first, but then he hears the barely audible shuffle of fabric. 

“I wonder what could be behind door #1?” An unceremonious yank of the door handle reveals the Dreamies in all of their eavesdropping glory. Chenle and Jisung squawk and fall onto Renjun and Jeno, while Jaemin casually spreads out on the floor. “Ten hyung, what a surprise, you’re back. Don’t mind us, we were just relaxing.”

“Right next to the door.”

“We don’t decide where the urge to chill out hits.”

“Honestly, your dedication to your horrible cover-up is almost enough to make me forget how pissed I am that you were eavesdropping.”

“Didn’t you sort of do the same to us when we were talking to Donghyuck in the hallway?” 

Damn, they’re right. Messing with others is only fun when it doesn’t happen to him. Maybe that’s why they put him with the Dreamies instead of Lucas or Kun, he’s getting a taste of his own medicine.

“We were trying to listen in because we heard Taeyong hyung’s voice. Did you confess? Are you guys together?”

“No, we aren’t, I didn’t confess. I’m going to spare you the details, they’re pretty cringe inducing.” Ten sighs and drags a hand down his face.

“Let’s just say I tried to be a cat, but ended up being a clown.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this took so long, I’m a slow writer. I had writers block with this for the longest time and then I’d start writing a different prompt lol but don’t worry once I start something I finish it :)
> 
> As always, ty for your support! <3
> 
> This is like double the length of what the previous chapters were lol

**III.**

_30+ New Messages_

_Jeno added you to “Operation TXT” along with 5 others_

_Haechan changed the group name to “Operation TXT Without Mark”_

_Jaemin changed the group name to “Operation TXT_ 🌹💚🐱 _Without Mark_ 🚫🦁 _”_

Renjun:

NO MORE NAME CHANGES 

Jisung: 

We have like how many group chats now??

Chenle: 

It’s weird not having Mark hyung in here… 😭

Jeno: 

Ten hyung 

Jeno: 

Ten hyung? Are you busy??

Haechan:

HYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNG

Chenle:

HYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNG

Jisung:

HYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNG

Jaemin:

HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱

Renjun: 

I think he gets the memo guys 🙃

Jaemin:

Renjunnieeee 🦊 … Jenoooooooo bby (.◜◡◝) you have to get his attention too!! 😡🤨 

Renjun: 

🙄

HYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNG

Jeno: 

HYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNGHYUNG

Chenle:

Ten hyung’s not answering!!

Jaemin: 

Maybe we didn’t spam enough 🤔 you know what to do 😏🤗😶

HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱HYUNG🐱…

… 

Ten scrolls through what seems like never ending walls of text in their apparently newly formed group chat, not even sparing a glance at reading what the later messages say. 

It’s a wild bet, but he’s guessing they start with ‘H’, and end in ‘yung’. Or, ‘yung 🐱’. 

Water droplets fall from his wet hair onto the floor as he walks over to his bed, a towel snuggly wrapped around his waist. He was _in the shower_. It wasn’t even a long one, too. These Dreamies have way too much energy and not enough patience. 

Tenlee: 

ㅋㅋㅋㅋ you guys really got my attentionnn :) I was in the shower… cause people have lives and can’t be on their phone always lol :)

Jisung: 

Those :) are very menacing… 

Tenlee:

Good :)

Jeno: 

Ten hyung! Sorry for the spam, but can you come to the practice rooms in a bit? We’re practicing with Mark hyung right now but afterwards we can tell you our next plan! It’s mine hehehe (.◜◡◝)

Tenlee:

Okay I’ll be there. And for the future, 1 text is moreeeee than enough... really lol :) 

Haechan:

Gotcha boss hyung ✌️ OMG why have we never made a group chat with you??? 

Tenlee: 

Idk 

Chenle: 

Even after this whole thing is completed, we should keep this up still!! 😄 wouldn’t that be cool?!?!?!

… 

…

… 

Jeno: 

He’s not replying ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Renjun:

I understand his hesitation ^^

Tenlee:

… I can, it would be cool I guess lol 

Jaemin: 

This chat’s gonna be lit!! 🤩 Ten hyung 🐱 and us 🦊🐶🐻🐰😸🐹 !!💚 BFFS 🥺💚

You have to be a special type of person to have the dedication to use an insane amount of emojis in every text. And by a special type of person he means Jaemin. You have to be Jaemin. 

Tenlee: 

Didn’t you say you were still practicing with Mark lol are you guys leaving him out?

Haechan:

Yeah he’s real annoyed 😗 I’ll take a pic of his face give me a sec 

Tenlee:

Oh you don’t have to…

I’m guessing his lack of a response means he’s already doing it 

Jaemin:

Yep 🤗😳 it’s 🐻 v. 🦁!!!

Jisung: 

_Attachment- IMG020502_

Here’s a pic of Donghyuck hyung chasing Mark hyung around, as you can see both of their mouths are open because they’re both screaming 😁 ㅋㅋㅋ

Renjun: 

_Audio Attachment- 00:16_

Ten presses the play symbol, then immediately regrets it. Shouts (no shit) fill his room and _wow,_ his volume was up loud. The soft snickers of Renjun and Chenle are background noise as Donghyuck and Mark’s squabbling varies between louder and softer as they presumably run around the room. He chuckles when he hears Mark’s voice pitch higher as he screams, “Get away from me!” followed by Donghyuck’s evil cackling and a “You can’t run away forever!”

Tenlee: 

Lol I don’t know who to root for ㅋㅋㅋ 

Jeno: 

I’m gonna go grab Mark hyung (.◜◡◝)

…

Haechan: 

_Attachment- IMG080299_

☀️ Fullsun is victorious!!! ✌️ Everyone remember to save a copy to your phone~~

Upon opening the attachment, Mark’s face greets him, eyes adorably scrunched up and mouth drawn into a grimace that’s more cute than intimidating. Mark would absolutely kill him if he told him that there’s no heat behind his attempts to look angry, he’s like a baby cheetah. 

Renjun:

Already did 😌

Chenle:

I made it his contact pic ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Tenlee: 

Remind me to never get on your bad sides lol

Jaemin:

Ten hyung~ 🐱 we have many more pics like that if you want em?🤭😏 

Tenlee:

No shame, send them all to me 

.

.

.

After saving multiples of Donghyuck’s photo of Mark to his phone (and having Jaemin send him the other ones), Ten had gotten ready before making it to the practice rooms. 

As he nears the room number they told him they’d be in, the door opens and Mark stumbles out as the Dreamies crowd around the entrance, blocking him from reentering. 

“Bye dude we’ll text later!”

“C’mon Mark hyung, time to leave!”

“I’m _leaving_ ,” Mark growls and turns around once the door slams shut. He leans towards the room and brings a fist up to the air. “One of these days I’m gonna find out what’s up with all of you!”

“What are they hiding from me!? I’m basically their leader...” he mutters before noticing he’s not the only one in the hallway. Recognition flashes across his face as he notices the catlike eyes just underneath the baseball hat’s brim and then he’s grinning wide, which Ten reciprocates with a smirk of his own. 

“Ten!”

Ten walks over to Mark and gives him a fist bump before pulling him into a hug. “Heeeyyyy, it’s my cute little bro.” 

“Yeah, yeah, hey bro,” Mark giggles as he starts getting assaulted with face kisses from the elder. “Ack, affectionate much?” 

“Didn’t you know? I’m the number 1 Mark Lee fan,” Ten replies and releases him from his embrace in favor of slinging an arm around his shoulders. He brings his free hand up to his chin in mock contemplation. “And I’m only just following what you said a few months ago: _We’re touching each other, it’s all about interaction, we gotta be social_.” 

“No no no no no, shut uppppp,” Mark groans, while Ten continues to gleefully chant “ _We’re just touching, you know_?” 

“You know I don’t do good with one-on-one interviews! I just said what came to mind!”

“And what came to mind were the most awkward sentences ever, but I’d expect nothing less from you,” Ten says with a wink and a click of his tongue. Mark hangs his head, but Ten can still see the tiny smile he’s trying to hide. 

“ _Ooookay,_ we are done talking about this. I know you didn’t come here just to tease me, what brings you here dude?” 

“Just coming to practice a little. The rest of the Dreamies also wanted me to help them with some hard choreo.”

Mark looks at him with a quizzical glance, but doesn’t seem to find his answer untruthful. “And they don’t want me around for it?”

“They don’t want to take up your time, you have a lot of other things to focus on right? Like with 127.”

“Donghyuck is in 127 too and he’s still there.”

Ten sends a mental apology to Donghyuck for what he’s about to say. “Don’t tell him I told you this… but he told me that he’s not that confident with the choreo yet. So while you may be okay, he’s a little…” 

Mark’s mouth opens wordlessly when he catches onto what he’s implying and he nods in understanding. “Oh, I see what you mean.” 

“Yeahhh, so that’s why I’m here.” 

“They don’t think I could help them? I mean, like, I know you’re the dance god, but like, I’m not _that_ bad of a leader right...” 

Now Mark’s sad and doubtful of his leadership skills; this is why Ten doesn’t like lying like this. He lightly knocks his head against the younger’s in an attempt to cheer him up. “It’s nothing to do with you or your abilities, they’re just trying to… bond more with me.” 

Technically he’s not lying when he says that, they _are_ bonding with him, just for an entirely different reason. 

“I can tell they are. I barely see them outside of practice or our official schedule,” Mark sighs before perking up and giving him an eager glance. “You live with them. Do you know why they’re acting so strange lately? And cocky, though that’s mainly just Donghyuck.” 

“Uhhh…” 

_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit._

“The Dreamies normally act weird. Are you sure you’re not overthinking things?” Ten asks with a slight frown. 

“I know the difference between their normal antics and when something’s different. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you around as much too. Taeyong said you’ve been busy, so like, what are you guys doing haha?” Mark questions, his casual tone makes him sound like he’s just offhandedly throwing the question into the air and not causing Ten to go into cardiac arrest. 

Ten feels his muscles tense upon hearing Taeyong’s name. Has Taeyong told him about the cake incident or their practice session? Mark’s a smart boy, he’d be able to pick up on what he had been trying to do with enough information. If he figures it out… would he tell Taeyong? Was Donghyuck —he can’t believe he’s thinking this— actually _right?_

“Uh… your hand is kinda… digging… into my shoulder haha,” Mark says with an awkward chuckle, bringing Ten out of his internal freaking out session. 

Huh? Oh look at that it is. With a quiet apology he quickly pulls away from the younger and takes a moment to settle his nervous energy. Who would have thought, a stupid crush is what comes between him and his favorite younger member’s trusting relationship. He blames Taeyong. 

“Mark,” Ten starts off slowly, “What has Taeyong told you exactly?” 

“Uh, he said you guys made— I guess _tried to_ make a cake.”

_Crap crap crap._

“And I remember when I found Donghyuck in the bathroom that one time, he sounded like he was on a call with you guys?” 

_He knew they had been too loud_. 

Mark didn’t mention anything about his and Taeyong’s private dance meetup. Had Taeyong kept that to himself? “So… the cake is all he told you about? Nothing else too in detail?” Ten implores, hoping his voice doesn’t sound too eager for answers. 

“Yeah pretty much… were you expecting something else?” 

“ _What_? No, not at all,” Ten drawls as he narrowly avoids having a heart attack. “Not… at… all.”

Mark squints his eyes and crowds up into his personal space; Ten squints back. “You can be kind of weird sometimes.”

Okay, being attacked like this was not in the agenda for today. 

“Gee. Thanks. I’ve always wanted to be called a weirdo by the person I consider a brother,” Ten deadpans; he has to admit he’s a bit affronted, “I love you too. ” 

“I mean you’re not _weird_ weird, you just tease and joke a lot, but right now you seem like, an uneasy weird. You didn’t really answer my first question and you’re acting kind of jumpy too, like Donghyuck and the rest.” 

And that’s his cue to ditch Mark. 

“Would you look at the time, you probably have places to be, I won’t keep you here.” Ten grabs onto Mark’s shoulders and starts steering him towards the elevator. 

“I actually don’t—”

He chooses to ignore the other’s protests as he jams a finger into the first button he sees. “ _So_ many places to be. It was nice seeing you, text me sometimes? You don’t text me enough.” The doors open with a ding and he all but crams a confused and sputtering Mark into the elevator. 

“Wait a minute, are you trying to get rid of me!?” Mark exclaims as he holds the doors open, “Are you in on whatever they’re doing?”

Well he figured that out fast.

Ten stills at the accusation and they both just stare at each other. It’s a good thing no one’s walked in on them, he doesn’t know how they’d explain themselves. 

What to do, what to do? If there’s anything he’s learned when in a tough situation, it’s to plead ignorance. Ten blinks dumbly. Mark raises a brow, unamused.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Mark instantly fires back with a scowl.

“Know what?”

Mark’s eyes roll so hard Ten’s worried he's going to strain something. 

Playing dumb is getting him nowhere; acting naive only works when the other party isn’t _annoyingly stubborn._ The second thing he learned is that if ignorance doesn’t work, the next thing to do is run away.

Or in this case, get Mark out of his face ASAP.

Ten peers into the elevator and presses the button to the highest floor number. He then pries the younger’s fingers off of the door sides and gives him a little push backwards. 

“Hey!” 

As the door begins to shut, Ten blows him an air kiss for goodbye. “Better be on your way, remember: don’t drink and drive —oh wait you can’t even drive to begin with—… well, then _definitely_ don’t drink and drive, don’t overwork yourself, and tell 127 I said hi!” 

“Ten, what the fuc—” 

The doors _finally_ close and Ten lets himself relax against the metal. That probably could have been handled a lot more smoothly, but Mark’s astuteness was freaking him out. He’s going to have to avoid that boy from now on. 

With that out of the way, Ten walks back over to the practice room and lightly knocks. 

From behind the door, Chenle’s voice rings out. “Mark hyung we’re not letting you back in!”

“Good thing I’m not Mark,” Ten replies as he enters the room to see the Dreamies sprawled on the floor. “I literally just had the most stressful encounter with him though, so we have to be more careful with what we do around him.” 

Donghyuck flips onto his back and smugly looks up at him. “So… I was right to keep him out of this huh?” 

“Don’t push it,” Ten warns as he drops to the ground besides them, “Mark is suspicious of you guys, and now he’s suspicious of me. He’s so clever, I must have rubbed off on him. I don’t know whether to be proud or annoyed.” 

“Definitely annoyed,” Jaemin whines, “We’ve been acting normal around him, but it’s soooo hard to keep it up.” 

“Really? Acting normal? Because he caught onto you guys’ activity, like, instantly.”

Renjun immediately sits up and glares at his group mates. “I told you all giggling conspiratorially while huddled in the corner of the room and glancing at Mark hyung was a big red flag!” 

“Holy sh—,” Ten coughs, “uh holy _crap_ , I don’t want to go down whatever rabbit hole of an explanation there is for you guys to justify why that would be considered normal behavior, so I won’t. Let’s just get down to business. Jeno, the floor is yours. Wow me.” 

Jeno and Jaemin share a look of understanding before standing up. “We’re going to act out my idea.”

Jaemin wanders over to the far side of the room and turns his back to his boyfriend while Jeno drags over a table and places a letter on top. He then moves over to the other end of the room and signals to Chenle. 

“Part 1: Infiltration!” Chenle announces.

Turning on his heel, Jaemin pivots around and starts strolling across the floor. “What a nice day of practice and fun. How could this day ever get better? Oh wait, it could! If only I had a boyfriend to share my happiness with.” 

Ten glances at Renjun, who holds up a hand before he can get a word out. “Don’t ask. It’s Jaemin. Let him have this.” 

A painfully fake gasp brings his attention back to the scene in front of him as Jaemin notices the letter and picks it up. “A letter!? For Nana!? What ever could it say?” 

He unwraps the paper with a flourish and reads it over before gasping again. “It’s a _confession_! How romantic and totally guaranteed to make me return their feelings! It says I should go meet my admirer at a specified location. I’m totally going to do that right now.”

At that, he dramatically bows as Jisung gets up and says, “Part 2: Profit!” 

_Profit?_

“I’m at the location,” Jaemin voices as he looks around, “I wonder who my admirer could be? I hope he has cute eye smiles and a great personality.” 

Jeno enters into the scene and pretends to shyly approach the other. “Jaemin, I wrote the letter. If you feel the same, will you be my boyfriend?” 

Jaemin gives him a genuine smile in response and seems to forget all about his dramatic acting. “I would love to be your boyfriend.” They embrace before kissing sweetly as the rest of the Dreamies applaud and whistle. 

_Ohhh that’s why it’s called profit._

The two pull apart and stare into each other’s eyes for a moment, intertwining their hands between themselves. Ten feels a twinge at his heartstrings, they really do make a cute couple. In a way, they kind of remind him of Taeyong and himself: they’re complements to each other and have been friends for a long time. Their relationship strengthens their teamwork together and their teamwork strengthens their relationship. Working with Taeyong for the past month has helped him grow as a dancer and as a person and he’s probably had some influence on Taeyong, right? So if history repeats itself like they say… the odds of him and Taeyong becoming a thing are looking pretty good. 

Jeno turns to Ten, a bright, earnest expression revealing his excitement. “That’s basically the gist of it. Writing a confession letter and then having him meet you somewhere where you confess to him in person.” 

“Did you and Jaemin get together this way?” Ten lightly asks with a smile. “It’s quite cute.”

A hard blush blooms on Jeno’s face as Jaemin barks out a laugh. “HA, I wish. Jenmoongie got the inspiration from watching anime,” Jaemin states and swings their arms together, “we, on the other hand, got together in a much different way. That doesn’t matter right now though.”

He bounds over to where the others sit, dragging Jeno along with him. “So??? Were you wowed by my acting skills? Do I have a future in Kdramas?”

“I was indeed wowed... but I’m not going to answer that last part,” Ten says before snapping his fingers as he remembers a point of inquiry from their skit. “Oh wait, I do have a question though, why is Part 1 called Infiltration?”

“Oh, that’s an easy answer,” Donghyuck says, “It’s because you’re going to sneak into Taeyong hyung’s room to plant the letter.” 

_And_ there it is. Ten should have expected this, he really should have. The plan was too normal, too simple for a Dreamie plan. 

“Of course I am. Of. Course. I. Am,” Ten groans, throwing his hands up into the air, “Are you expecting me to scale the side of a building to the fifth floor? Should I buy some climbing gear and life insurance beforehand?” 

“Pshhhh no, that’s crazy,” Chenle corrects him with an incredulous look. “Have you forgotten about the wonderful invention called the _door_? Donghyuck’s going to let you in when the hyungs aren’t there, you’ll put the letter in his room, and then leave. Simple in-out, done.” 

“If my opinion means anything, I like this plan a lot, and I thought my cake idea was one of the best,” Jisung admits; Jeno openly preens with pride at the praise. “It’s also romantic, if you prefer that.”

“I really don’t care as long as we’re locking lips by the end of it,” Ten says with a dry chuckle; having to deal with Taeyong’s cluelessness leaves him unable to be too picky with his confession attempts. “But before I agree to this, I have a couple more questions.”

“Shoot.” 

“Donghyuck, if you live with Taeyong, why can’t I just give you my letter and you put it in his room?” 

“I’m not the one confessing to Taeyong hyung, _duh._ Besides, it’s your confession you gotta work for it.” 

“You really want to make this a lot harder than it needs to be. Okay then, how will you be sure they’ll all be out of the dorm?” 

“Tomorrow’s the weekend, and we, Taeyong hyung, Johnny hyung, Doyoung hyung, and I, have plans to go up to the others’ floor and eat lunch there. So I’m going to wait for them all to leave and let you guys in before I go up,” Donghyuck confidently answers. “And I know what you’re probably going to ask next. _But Donghyuck, what if his door is locked?_ Taeyong hyung doesn’t lock his door unless he’s in a mood or wants some time to himself.” 

Ten purses his lips and holds his tongue. That was exactly what he was going to say next, but he’s not going to give the younger the satisfaction of knowing that. “That’s a good enough plan for me, I’m in.”

Jeno jumps in place with happiness as he lets loose a cheerful whoop. “Yes! Ten hyung likes my plan. So, first things first: the letter. You write up your confession and don’t forget to put a meeting date and time. But Taeyong hyung probably knows what your handwriting looks like, so you’ll have to print it off.” 

“Yeah, yeah I can do all of that.” Ten smirks as he closes his eyes and lays back against the floor. This idea sounds like it’ll be the one with the least amount of work on his end. He just needs to pour out his feelings onto paper, which he can definitely do considering that he could gush about Taeyong to anyone for hours on end when speaking. 

Writing a confession will be a piece of cake.

.

.

.

Writing a confession was not a piece of cake, unless the cake was an hours long, stress-inducing, endeavor of pain and suffering. The words just weren’t flowing together like he had thought they would, it was like there was a disconnect between his brain and what he typed out. It had taken him multiple revisions and much thought before he had something that somewhat managed to convey all of his heart into words. 

Ten isn’t sure if going into _very_ descriptive detail about how Taeyong’s hair moves when it flows in the wind or how his eyes shine when he sees something cute could be taken as creepy or romantic, but he’s going to go with the latter. The meetup location he chose is behind the 127 dorm, not very special or anything but he doesn’t want to make Taeyong go on a whole journey just to get to him. 

And if he got the ‘confess behind a building’ idea from watching shoujo anime where the protagonist meets their crush behind the school… that’s for him to know and no one else. If only there were cherry blossom trees as well, that would really set the mood.

He’d then printed his letter out, neatly folded it into an envelope, and drew a single heart on the front. After he had his confession safe and secure, Ten made his way over to Taeyong’s dorm building, but didn’t dare go in just in case one of his dorm mates happened to be on the lower levels. There weren't really any other places to go while he’s waiting, so he just hid behind a random tree in the area. Now all that’s left is Donghyuck’s text to let him know when it’s clear. 

Just as Ten’s debating whether he should get up and move —the lady across the street has been glaring at him for a while now, she probably thinks he’s a crazy fan— his phone vibrates. 

Haechan: 

They’re finally gone 😭 I’m at the front 

Oh yeah, I also had Renjun and Jeno come up beforehand to assist you if needed, all of us there would be too much ㅋㅋㅋ

Tenlee:

Thank god I was about to get the cops called on me lol 

Haechan:

😐 

Tenlee:

See you in a sec 

He pockets his phone before jogging over to the entrance where Donghyuck’s face pops up behind the glass. Donghyuck checks to his right, left, and over his shoulder before opening the door, allowing Ten to slip into the lobby. 

“Can I ask why…”

“No, you can’t.”

Donghyuck pouts but motions him towards the elevators. “So, we were all ready to go except for Doyoung hyung, he was like _not yet I’m almost done with my daily vocal exercises_ and I was like _can’t that wait until after lunch_ , but then he got really mad and Taeyong hyung tried to calm him down but Johnny hyung teased him which made him mad again and yeah, they can be so,” Donghyuck frowns and waves his arms about, “ _ughhh_ sometimes, you know?” 

“It’s funny you say that, I would totally switch living arrangements with you if I could,” Ten remarks as they enter the elevator and select the fifth floor, “You live with Taeyong and Johnny, literally my crush and best friend. Teasing Doyoung would be a fun bonus.” 

The floor shifts as they ride up. “It’s heaven for you. They all act so old sometimes, I feel out of place. Someone closer to their age should have been in my spot. I wanted to at least be on the same floor as Mark,” Donghyuck mutters. 

Ten sighs and reaches over to ruffle his hair, causing the younger to whine, which draws some chuckles from himself. Donghyuck may be _a lot_ at times, but he’s a source of warmth and vibrancy in all of their lives. He’s not called Fullsun for nothing. “I can assure you, they don’t think you’re out of place or wish you were someone else. I think you probably help them feel younger. Don’t sell yourself short, you bright ball of sunshine.”

“You know, when you’re not teasing us, you’re a really nice person Ten hyung,” Donghyuck giggles. Ten blanches at the backhanded compliment and lightly swats his arm in retaliation. “You’re one to talk.” 

The elevator stops and Ten remembers exactly what he’s here for. They get out and soon he’s standing in front of the members’ door, his confidence melting into anxiety by the second. Even though he knows Taeyong isn’t here, he can’t help but expect to see his warm eyes and soft smile once the door opens. 

He removes his letter and runs a finger over the smooth paper, over the hand drawn heart, as Donghyuck watches, uncharacteristically quiet. When the younger speaks up, his voice is softer than normal. “I hope Taeyong hyung feels the same way that you do hyung. You both deserve it.” 

A surge of affection erupts from Ten’s chest and he brings the other into a short hug. “Thank you Hyuckie.” 

Donghyuck unlocks the door and waits until Ten holds it open before giving him a double thumbs up. “Good luck!” He then dashes back to the elevator and disappears from sight as the doors close. 

Ten passes into the living area and sure enough, as far as the eye can see everything is spotless and neatly organized. Taeyong definitely lives here. Instead of going to his room, he first goes to Donghyuck and Johnny’s room where Renjun and Jeno perk up once they see him. 

Renjun waves from his spot on Donghyuck’s bed. “Hey hyung, we’re here just in case you need us.” 

“We just told the others that Donghyuck let us in to get some stuff we left here from a previous visit, so they don’t suspect why we’re here,” Jeno adds as he stands up and walks over to where Ten is. “I’m going to be in the living room as a lookout.” 

“You’re really playing it safe, huh. Well, whatever floats your boat, I’ll be going to Taeyong’s room now.”

Ten wanders down the hall until he reaches his destination. A cocktail of excitement, nervousness, and some guilt (obviously) hits him as he opens the door and walks into the room. 

Taeyong’s bedroom is as neat as the rest of the dorm; there’s a bed pushed to one side of the room, at the far end is a desk and laptop setup. Opposite to his bed is a tiny vanity and above it, polaroids decorate the white expanse of wall. His window is wide open, allowing a cool breeze to flow into the space along with the quiet sounds of the outside. Overall, the furnishings aren’t too much, but it’s cozy. It’s so… _Taeyong_ and Ten wishes he could stay here longer, preferably under non secretive circumstances, to really get a good look at everything. Maybe later he’ll get the chance; when he’s Taeyong’s boyfriend he can stay here more.

Ten carefully walks around the room, debating what the most optimal spot would be to really grab Taeyong’s attention.Taeyong uses his art supplies quite a bit, he could sneak it in between some paint markers. No, what if Taeyong decides not to do anything with them, then he’d miss opening the letter and the meeting time. Ten goes over to the window where the desk sits just below. The deskspace is a little too crowded, the letter could easily get misplaced. Next to his laptop, a variety of succulents sit in pots. Is placing it in a potted plant weird… 

“TEN HYUNG!” Jeno suddenly appears in the doorway, his voice commanding attention in the silence. “Donghyuck just texted me! When he was in the bathroom Taeyong hyung left! He’s coming back!” 

Remember when he thought it seemed like life had a grudge against him? That is really the only explanation for what happens next. Ten startles at the shout of his name and his fingers involuntarily twitch open, releasing his grip on the envelope just as a gust of wind blows in from outside and carries it out of the room. 

“... Fuck.”

Ten leans forward, face contorted in shock as the letter, almost as if taunting him, slowly floats _just_ out of reach and begins its pendulum-like descent to the ground. Wide-eyed, he turns back to where Jeno nervously stands. 

“My letter’s gone.”

Jeno stops his fretting as he blinks, confusion evident in his eyes. “What?”

“It’s gone.”

“Where?”

“Out the window, gone with the wind, anywhere but here.”

“It’s a good thing I planned for something like that,” Jeno says as he goes to drag Ten out of the room and into the hallway, “I have a backup letter with me written by the others, I’ll place it when I get a chance. You have to hide now though!” 

They make it back to the living area, but the sound of the door handle jiggling has them freezing in their tracks. 

_How is Taeyong already here!?_

Jeno shoves him to the side and whispers, “ _The closet!”_ , that gets his legs moving. Ten basically throws himself into the darkness and manages to close the door behind him just as the creak of the front door signifies Taeyong’s entry. 

Through the sliver of space between the door and wall, Ten squints his eyes to see Taeyong’s thin frame in the entryway as he looks around. 

“Jeno, you’re still here?” Taeyong’s voice is a bit hard to make out due to his hiding spot and the way his heartbeat pounds like it wants to escape out of his chest. 

“Taeyong hyung, uh… yeah Renjun and I were still looking for our stuff,” Jeno answers with a sigh. “If I may ask, why are you back so soon? I thought you were having lunch on the other floor.” 

A giggle escapes Taeyong’s lips as he brings a hand to the back of his neck and bashfully says, “I made some food for lunch today, but I forgot if I turned the oven off or not. It was bothering me so much I had to check.”

“I went to the kitchen for a snack and it’s off. So, uh you can go back now.” 

Taeyong lets out a breath of relief. “Thanks for telling me. If you want, I can try and help you find what you’re looking for.” To Ten’s horror, Taeyong starts walking over to his location, causing him to skirt back from the door and plant himself completely flush to the back wall. “I clean often so I might have put it in the closet if you left it out.”

_Oh crap, there’s nothing to hide behind in here. Is this the end?_

“NO NEED TO CHECK THERE HYUNG! I JUST REMEMBERED IT’S IN DONGHYUCK’S ROOM, RENJUN PROBABLY FOUND IT BY NOW LET’S GO AND SEE.” 

Ten makes a mental note to be extra nice to Jeno once this is over. 

Taeyong halts his advance; he was literally a foot from the door. “Okay, if you’re sure.” He turns his back to the closet, but Ten doesn’t move until he sees his whole body disappear into the hallway. Jeno follows, but before he leaves the room he casts a quick glance to where Ten is, pointedly jerking his head towards the exit. 

Ten elects to wait a few moments before cautiously leaving the closet, then makes sure to shut the door without a sound. With the utmost of care, he tiptoes across the floor, keeping to the edges to reduce his noise output. Just as he’s passing behind the sectional couch, he realizes that he literally could have camped out in the closet until Taeyong left, and _then_ taken his leave without having to act like he’s maneuvering through a minefield. 

Of course he just now thinks of that when he’s already halfway across the room.

_Great job,Ten. Real smart move._

As if it couldn’t get any worse, there’s now talking coming from the hallway. Thankfully, the first to show is Renjun; the Chinese teen takes one step into the room, makes direct eye contact with him, and automatically turns around, throwing his hands out in front of him as Taeyong comes forward. “Taeyong hyung, wait. I think Jeno wanted to try out some of your paint markers. Like, _right now_.”

“I kind of need to get back,” Taeyong laughs, “Doie’s probably thinking I ditched them.”

“It won’t take long.”

Taeyong bites his lip as he thinks it over, but relents in the end. “Okay, I guess I can.” 

Ten makes another mental note to be extra nice to Renjun. 

Once Taeyong goes into his room, Renjun fast walks over to Ten. “We’ll make sure to place our letter in his room when he’s not here. So you don’t have to worry about that. Just get out of here!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Ten mutters. “Thanks for your help.” 

Renjun nods once and smiles before going to join Jeno and Taeyong while Ten quietly sneaks out the door

It was a little bumpy, but Part 1 is complete. Now for Part 2. 

.

.

.

Ten quietly hums to himself as he reclines on his bed, deeply engrossed in a book. It’s been a few hours since the whole letter situation and now he has nothing to do except wait.

From his bedside table, his phone lights up as a call comes in, the white text reading ❤️Yongie❤️. He doesn’t hesitate to pick up and answer. 

“Taeyong, what’s up?”

“Ten! Are you at the dorm? Can I come over now? I-I need to talk to you about something. It’s important.” Taeyong’s voice has an urgent undertone to it that doesn’t sit well with him. Ten immediately sobers up as concern for the other takes priority over anything else. 

“I’m at the dorm. Come over whenever. Yong, what’s wrong?” 

“I’ll tell you when I get there. See you soon.” Taeyong hangs up and leaves Ten completely in the dark about what’s going on. 

Setting his book aside, Ten gets up and starts pacing the floor of his room. It can’t be anything to do with the letter, the Dreamies said they didn’t put his name in it and their meeting date was sometime tomorrow, not today. Unless Taeyong had some help from divine intervention, there’s no way he could know the letter was from him. So what does he need to talk to him about that dictates an in-person meeting? 

The wait for Taeyong feels like it takes forever, but that’s probably due to the unease unfurling in his gut. When he finally arrives, Ten was almost about to go and find him himself. Taeyong lets himself into Ten’s room, but before Ten can even greet him, he’s moving about the room, eyes darting from one thing to the next, hands meticulously combing through his belongings. Ten manages to stop his weird behavior as Taeyong moves to his window and checks the locks. 

He lightly takes a hold of one arm, using it to make the elder look at him. “Taeyong, what’s going on?” 

Taeyong’s face is pale, eyes wide with furrowed brows, and the dot of blood on his lip confirms the fact that he’s been biting his lip too much. Impulsively, Ten reaches out and delicately swipes his thumb against his mouth, wiping away the blood speck. Taeyong’s eyes widen even more, and his mouth slightly parts. Ten tears his eyes off of the inviting sight and forces himself to look back into the other’s eyes, which aren’t much less alluring god dammit. 

“Uh… you had a small cut on your lip, and my hand kind of moved on it’s own. Sorry,” Ten weakly explains, a slight flush to his face. 

Some color returns to Taeyong’s face as he gives him a small smile. “It’s okay, I was wondering why you did that.” 

“You should put on some chapstick. Your lips are dry.” Oh my god, can he get any more awkward right now? Something’s wrong with Taeyong and here he is telling him his lip care game is weak. 

At least it gets a chuckle out of Taeyong. “I’ll do that.” However, his lighthearted attitude leaves just as quickly as it came as Taeyong goes quiet again, before seriously asking, “Ten, have you noticed anything strange in your room? Or in or around the whole dorm in general?”

Ten’s sure his face is nearly identical to Taeyong’s once he hears his question. “No? Nothing out of the ordinary here.” 

That must have been what he was wanting to hear, some tenseness in Taeyong leaves him as he all but drops into Ten’s bed. “Oh thank god. I don’t know what I’d do if yo— _you_ _guys_ were compromised.”

Okay, what the hell is going on. “Compromised?”

Taeyong stares directly into his eyes. “A stalker left me a letter.”

_OH MY FUCKING GOD._

Ten chokes on his own spit. Coughs rack his frame and he has to wave Taeyong off as he turns around and curls into himself. When it dies down, he hesitantly faces Taeyong again, eyes looking anywhere but him. “Hahahaha… what?” 

Taeyong deflates, stress practically oozing from his person as he reaches into his pants pocket and produces a folded white paper. “They broke into my room, it was on my bed.”

“B-Broke into your room...” 

“I don’t know how they did it without being seen, but they did. And the writing, it’s so creepy.” 

“Creepy…” Ten echoes breathlessly with a distant look. This cannot be happening.

“Taeyong, give me the paper.” Ten says softly. Taeyong readily hands it over in favor of grabbing one of Ten’s pillows and hugging it to his chest.

Once he has the paper, Ten almost rips it in his haste to unfold it. He reads through it, mouth dropping into a horrified grimace with every consecutive sentence. 

He— he honestly has no good response to this. 

_My Love,_

_I can’t keep this to myself anymore. I love you so much. I’ve been with you since debut, I watched you whenever I could, I cheer you on always. I know and love everything about you. I want to be the one closest to you, closer than any other person, even your other group members. You’re my one-and-only partner, my reason for being here. Please meet me behind the dorm building tomorrow at 6 pm, we have to be secretive._

No where does this writing convey a ‘thoughtful, loving confession.’ No, this is more like ‘crazy fan, serial killer murder note vibes.’ 

God, Taeyong probably thought he’d be kidnapped in the alleyway and shoved into a car trunk if he went to the meeting place. 

“ _This_ is why studying is important! It teaches you how to write like a normal, rational human being!” 

“Ten, what are you talking about?”

“Yongie…please tell me you didn’t alert anyone else or a manager.”

“I haven’t, I was going to right after seeing you.” Taeyong sits up, big eyes peering over the top of the pillow. “Why?”

“Forget about it. It was a joke the youngsters have been doing recently. A really, really bad joke. The Dreamies must have dropped this accidentally when they went over to your dorm.” 

Taeyong lowers the pillow to his lap, and tilts his head slightly. Ten sighs as he takes to ripping the paper up into shreds. After disposing of the pieces, he takes a seat next to Taeyong. 

“It’s a really stupid prank. I’m so sorry you were dragged into this.” 

“It’s okay… I’m glad it’s nothing serious,” Taeyong whispers. His body slumps back down to the covers, and now that Ten really looks at him, he still looks really shaken up. A scare like this is nothing light and Taeyong must have been killing himself over it. Ten feels absolutely terrible to be part of the reason for his fear. 

“Yong, why don’t you rest here for a little bit. I’ll leave you here and go somewhere else,” Ten murmurs and gently runs his hand down some of Taeyong’s brown locks. 

Taeyong opens his mouth and Ten already knows he’s going to try and decline so he adds, “I would feel a lot better if you did.”

“Okay…” His voice is so small. Ten waits until he’s made himself comfortable before brushing his hand against the other’s head one last time. “I’ll tell the others where you are.” 

He draws his curtains and starts to go turn off his lights when his hand gets captured in Taeyong’s. Taeyong squeezes it once before whispering, “Tennie, thank you.”

Guilt. It’s only guilt that Ten feels as Taeyong looks at him with trusting eyes. “Don’t thank me… it’s really nothing.” 

Pulling away from his grasp, Ten turns off the lights and closes his door. He makes it to the living room before flopping onto the couch, energy completely spent.

When he says he wants Taeyong in his bed, he doesn’t mean like this.

Footsteps and jovial talking suddenly come from behind the front door and it swings open to reveal the whole cast of Dreamies. Their happy banter quiets real fast when they see Ten’s blank face staring at them.

His energy is somehow now fully restored. “Hey guys, lets go have a chat. Outside,” Ten says and leaves no room for debate.

They only make it down the hallway before Ten explodes.

“Who wrote that dumpster fire of a letter!?” Ten seethes. “Taeyong thought it was a stalker that wrote it. He was so stressed I made him take a nap in my room.” 

Chenle, Jisung, and Jaemin look at him with matching expressions of anguish upon hearing Taeyong’s reaction. “We wrote it…”

“I WATCH YOU WHENEVER I CAN? I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU? What am I, his delusional fan!? Might as well have added _I use binoculars to spy on you through your window and have a shrine dedicated to you in my closet,”_ Ten frustratedly groans. 

“We’re not poets, we’re idols!”

“If anything shouldn’t that make you more likely to not sound like a crazy fan!?” 

“I do the bare minimum in my studies because it’s not that important to us! Writing is hard too, especially if we’re writing from the perspective of you,” Chenle argues. 

“We’re sorry hyung,” Jaemin says dejectedly, “Jeno baby, I’m sorry for ruining your confession.” 

They all look so sad and defeated, Ten can’t stay mad at them. They really did try their best, for the most part at least. 

“What matters is that the situation is over, no one got harmed… sort of.” 

He gives them all a tight-lipped frown. 

“Now, we’re going to go over a few basic language arts lessons. One: How to not sound like a serial killer in your writings.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s funny is I know what I want my last chapters to be so I have already written some later chapter parts lol but this next chapter... idk yet so update may take longer :(


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I said it would take me longer to update this even I wasn’t expecting this long... 
> 
> I’m floored by the response this has gotten, thank you to each and every one of you!

“How do I pronounce this again? The first tone right?” 

“This is like the fifth time I’ve told you,” Kun exclaims as he makes a grabbing motion at Ten’s notebook. Ten passes him the book and lays his head on the table, motivation completely drained. Reading it over, Kun lays the notebook down and points to the aforementioned character. “You use the third tone here, but for _this_ one it’s the first.” 

Ten brings the book to his face, tongue just peeking out between his lips, and turns it every which way like he’s trying to decipher ancient symbols. Oh wait, that is exactly what he’s doing right now. “Are you sure? I could have sworn it was the other way around.”

With a dull thud, Kun’s forehead meets the tabletop, gaining the attention of Winwin and Lucas, who look between the two with matching amused expressions before going back to their phones. Ten’s eyes and mouth curve upwards with glee as Kun lifts his tired eyes to his. “You’re asking me, a Chinese national whose first language is Mandarin, if I’m right.”

“Uh, yeah. Should I repeat myself?”

“That’s not necessary. Ten, you should know this stuff by now, you learned the tones ages ago and we’re reviewing previous lessons.”

“You know this is my—”

Kun shoots up and drags a finger forwards, threateningly, just as Winwin interrupts without looking up from his phone, “Here he goes again.”

“I swear if you use the ‘ _this is my fourth language_ ’ excuse—”

“ _—_ This is my fourth language that I’m trying to learn. _Fourth_. My mind is like… uh, what’s the word… oh, explosions everytime I try to remember a new concept. Maintaining all of that knowledge is insane. Also, I’m pretty sure Mandarin was made by the Devil himself.” 

“There it is,” Lucas laughs, “What is it at now? Nine?” 

Winwin thinks about it for a moment. “We’re at eleven. He brought it up twice in the last lesson you didn’t attend.”

“Damn, you’d think after the first few times he’d realize that we know that he only uses that excuse when he's lazy.”

“You know I’m right here,” Ten butts in, vexation evident in his tone. He lifts his head and tugs at his bangs, pointedly choosing to ignore the rest of his studies. “And I’m not lying, it feels like my mind literally has to tear itself apart and rebuild to fit all this new stuff.”

Kun sighs. “Look, I know it’s hard but you’re honestly doing really well. You’ve been speaking it this entire time and we can _actually_ understand what you’re saying. It’s surprising, I know.” 

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to complement me without making it a backhanded one,” Ten replies back and maturely sticks out his tongue. Kun stares down at the table like he’s contemplating whether brain damage is a better alternative than dealing with Ten. 

“Speaking it with us is definitely improving your accent and pronunciation,” Winwin says as he takes pity on the elder and puts his phone down to join their conversation. 

Lucas grins and adds, “You’re an insanely good polyglot, man.” He picks up a book and flips through the pages until he gets to around three quarters of the way through, then holds it up for Ten to see. “It’s been like, not even that long and you already know all of this stuff. That’s straight up godlike polyglot skills.”

“Xuxi, you’re a polyglot too.”

“His Korean is 80% yeorobun half of the time, does that count?” Winwin says without pause, prompting Ten to keel over with laughter while Lucas sends Winwin a betrayed look.

“I heard yeorobun! What is everyone doing?” 

Ten jumps in his seat at the sudden voice before guiltily remembering the other member of their study group at the end of the table. 

“Not that I have a problem with him, but why is Jungwoo here?” Ten brings up a hand to cover his mouth and murmurs towards Lucas, voice low. He knows Jungwoo’s knowledge of the Chinese language is next to none, but he’d rather not risk it.

Lucas gives him an easygoing smile. “Because he wanted to be,” he whispers back like the answer is as simple as that. 

“I see.” Ten hums, when he in fact, does not see. “So… he knew this was just gonna be us talking in Mandarin the entire time right?” 

“Yeah.”

Jungwoo is a lot of things… what that means exactly, he couldn’t say. Ten waves when said member looks his way with a cheerful smile, cheeks full as he munches on some snacks.

“So why did he still,” he pauses, “Actually you know what it doesn’t matter.”

“We were just talking about Xuxi’s Korean vocabulary of one word. I hope you don’t feel too ostracized right now,” Ten says in Korean so Jungwoo can understand. Jungwoo vehemently shakes his head at his comment and beams back; he looks like an excited golden retriever. “Ten hyung, thank you for your concern but I’m fine! I like hanging out with you guys and getting to know the Chinese language more! Like nǐ hǎo!”

Jungwoo opens his mouth to say more but his face suddenly falls. “That’s all I know hyung…” Lucas scoots his chair over to him and whispers something; Jungwoo’s expression lights up and like a switch is flipped, he’s back to his energetic self. “Oh wait! Gege is like hyung! Ten gege!” 

“Yeah man! Go Jungwoo!” Lucas cheers as Jungwoo shyly smiles at the praise, ears red. They’re so sweet together. 

“Ten, didn’t you say that you liked studying?” At the mention of his name, Ten looks away and is met with Winwin’s curious face, chin resting in the palm of his hand. “Why is this now getting to you?”

“Usually I do like doing this with you all. I don’t know, guess my mind’s been preoccupied as of late,” Ten says, boredom back in full force. He flips to a blank spot in his notebook and starts drawing whatever comes to mind.

“With what?”

“You know… stuff.” The rough sketch starts to resemble a clearer shape, a face, graphite filling in a sharp jawline, dark eyebrows, expressive eyes.

“How eloquent of you.” 

Ten smiles as he draws in a rose next to the right eye. “Mandarin hard. Small words easy.”

“Is that Taeyong hyung?” Lucas asks, peering over Ten’s arm. “Bro, that’s good.”

Slamming the notebook shut, Ten rounds on the taller male. 

“No. It wasn’t.” Ten makes eye contact with Kun, who questioningly tilts his head. “It wasn’t. It was a random doodle.”

Before anyone can respond, two curt knocks resound from the wooden door. 

“Excuse me.” The door opens and the tangible version of Ten’s drawing pops its head into the study room. “I thought I heard familiar voices.” Taeyong takes in the clutter of notebooks and study materials spread out between them all. “Oh, am I interrupting something important?” 

“You are not, please save me,” Ten begs, giving him the most powerful puppy dog eyes he can muster. “They’re trying to kill me with Mandarin.”

“I think you mean we should be saved from you,” Kun deadpans, “your attention span is that of a toddler today.” 

Taeyong crosses his arms and purses his lips in a faux display of annoyance. “Ten, you should be a better student to your Chinese tutors.”

“He usually is to me and Xuxi, it’s only Kun ge that has trouble,” Winwin corrects. Taeyong gives Ten an exasperated smile, well aware that the younger’s hobby for teasing their Chinese group mate won’t stop even if he gives him a stern talking to, which Ten basically confirms with a noncommittal shrug. 

“Maybe if you were my teacher I’d behave more,” Ten purrs as he twirls his pencil between his fingers, his lidded gaze locked onto Taeyong’s. At the latter’s sudden blinking, eyes growing wide and mouth pressing into a thin line, he fumbles his pencil, heat rising on his cheeks. 

Oh, that may have been too much. 

Nervous laughter bubbles up from Taeyong as he breaks their eye contact, face going through a myriad of emotions until he settles on ‘ _polite yet awkward smile’_ before sadly uttering, “I don’t know Mandarin.”

“Y-Yeah, that sort of slipped my mind… I mean, if you did happen to know Mandarin, I wouldn’t be against having you as my teacher but like, I’m not saying _you_ specifically need to be my teacher for me to act well, I just… yeah… it would be interesting,” Ten breathes out, smooth as sandpaper. 

“It would be… interesting.” Taeyong nods and looks down at his feet. His posture practically radiates discomfort and Ten wants to disappear… or spontaneously combust, whichever is fine. 

The only sound in the room is the crunching of Jungwoo’s chips.

“Is it only me or was that weird to anyone else,” Jungwoo mumbles around bites, oblivious, or uncaring, to the newly created atmosphere in the room. He giggles as Lucas turns to him, speechless, incredulous mouth agape. “It’s almost like you were flirting with him or something.”

_Argggghhhh not again._

“You sure are funny,” Ten spits out, a slight waver in his voice. “So cute Woo, but uh, so not true.” 

“He wasn’t,” Taeyong agrees after a beat, and gives Ten a sheepish grin. “That’s just how Ten is. He’d make it obvious if he was flirting.” 

It’s _really_ hard to resist outing himself by telling Taeyong that he absolutely sucks and cannot tell when he is being flirted with because he’s been the subject of his flirting for weeks now, but Ten somehow manages to keep it in. He deserves a reward for that amount of self-restraint.

Instead, Ten just mumbles his agreement. “Yep… that’s how I am.”

Taeyong looks like he wants to say something in response, but he shakes his head and lets out a small sigh. “Well, I just wanted to stop by for a quick hi before I go practice with the others. Please continue where you left off. Kun, Lucas, Winwin, Jungwoo.” Taeyong politely nods to each. When he reaches Ten, he lifts a fist to the air. “Tennie, jiāyóu! You can do it!”

“Jiāyóu to you too, hyung. Have a good practice.”

Taeyong waves and backs away, gently closing the door with a soft click. Ten stares longingly at the wood where he’d just been. 

Sighing for probably the one hundredth time that day, Kun reaches over and flicks Ten’s arm, causing the latter to shriek. Rubbing the stinging spot, Ten sends him a death glare. “What was that for!?”

“You’re not going to focus anymore so that’s payment for my frustration and causing my mental state to deteriorate.” 

“Aww, I’m the cause of your mental deterioration?” Ten lifts a finger to his eye and wipes away an invisible tear. “Thanks, I try.”

Kun makes to flick him again while Ten rises from his chair, ready to bolt, but Winwin’s curt “Kun ge” has them both pausing. Curious, Ten watches as Winwin motions him over, pulling him down and whispering, mouth upturning with every word. They’re both giggles by the end of their secret conversation, and the smug look on Kun’s face as he straightens up isn’t very comforting. 

“So… we’re done for today?” Ten treads lightly, slowly gathering his study materials as he waits for the other’s response. 

“We are for the most part, but you have to complete one last lesson before we leave.”

“Yeah, yeah, enough with the mysterious condition shtick, just spit it out I’ll do whatever,” Ten spurs him on with a flippant tone, already getting out his phone and onto his Dreamie group chat. It’s been some time since the teens had come to him with something pertaining to his confession. Lately, they’ve all just been goofing off and sending memes to each other. He sends a short message of inquiry, to which Jaemin asks him where he is. It’s a weird question, but Ten replies with their study room number at their company’s artist building and informs them of his Chinese lesson. Jaemin sends him a sly looking emoji and nothing more. 

Huh. 

Kun drags him out of his confusion with a forced cough. Once he has Ten’s attention, he says in Korean, “Say ‘four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty’ five times fast in Mandarin.” Jungwoo softly repeats him while Lucas whistles his shock. “Wow you guys are ice cold.”

Ten picks up his coffee and sips, gaze unfocusing as his mind works through the language translations. Realization has him almost spewing out his drink in shock.

“You can’t be serious.” 

“As serious as a heart attack,” Kun eagerly asserts. He sounds way too excited for this. 

“You’re making me recite a tongue twister. A tongue twister in _Mandarin_.” 

“Hey, it was Sicheng’s idea, not mine. Get to it if you want to end this.” Kun leans back in his chair, interlocking his fingers behind his head and glances at the others present. “Might wanna find something to do, this is gonna be a while.”

Ten glowers at him. This is so outrageous, but he’s not calling it quits, especially not from something Kun challenged him to do. “Kun, I hope a bug flies into your mouth. Sicheng, our friendship is no more, your cuteness is a disguise for evil.”

Winwin raises an eyebrow, unaffected by Ten’s dramatic talk. “Really? So since we’re not friends anymore I’m gonna ask someone else to go to that Korean BBQ place we were gonna go to tomorrow with Yuta and Xuxi.”

“... _After_ that, we are not friends.” 

With everyone’s eyes on him, including Jungwoo’s (he has no idea why they’re all looking at Ten but everyone is so he just went along), Ten inhales deeply before starting the challenge.

“Sìshìsìshíshìshì… oh my god I’m going to die.”

Ten is sure now, Mandarin is the Devil’s language.  
.

.

.

“Congratulations,” Kun claps, thoroughly impressed as Ten tries to draw in air, wheezing after his fifth and final correct tongue twister. “I’m honestly impressed you did that.”

It had taken him almost half an hour to manage to get through the pronunciations without messing up; during that time Lucas had to restrain him from lunging across the table to strangle Kun when he found out the elder was recording him at one point.

Ten holds up a finger as Winwin hands him a water bottle and greedily gulps down the cool liquid. “I…hate…you…so… much.” 

“You’re insane, man! Half of the time I can’t do that!” Lucas slaps him on the back causing Ten to stumble right into Jungwoo, who attacks him with a hug, lifting him up as he cheers, “Ten hyung you’re amazing!”

“Haha thanks, please put me down my organs are being crushed.” 

Jungwoo sets him down and bounds over to the door where Kun and Lucas stand expectantly. Winwin hands Ten his bag. “We’re going to get lunch, wanna come?”

“I’m still angry that you guys made me do that. Pay for my meal and I’ll forgive you,” Ten grumbles as he reaches the others and goes for the door handle. 

For the second time that day, the door opens, except this time there’s no courtesy warning and it swings right into him. Donghyuck barrels into the room and holds out his hands. “TEN HYUNG ARE YOU GUYS DONE?”

The other Dreamies file in and look around. Chenle lights up when he sees Kun. “Kun ge! Is Ten hyung still here?”

“I don’t know, you may have sent him to Hell with the force of that hit.” 

“Hit? So that weight behind the door was… oh no.” Jeno closes the door to reveal a straight faced Ten, mouth turned downward.

“Yes, I’m still here and thankfully not dead upon impact. Also, Hell? Really?” Ten deadpans. “There’s no way I’m going down there. I’m going to haunt you.”

Before things can get any more heated, Lucas pipes up. “Why are you Dreamie dudes here? Wanna come to lunch with us?”

Jaemin makes his way to the front of their group and stands tall, his signature grin on full display. “Naw, we have some English homework stuff to do with Ten hyung here, and I thought: what better time to study than in a study room? Hence, us here.”

That’s the first Ten’s heard of this “homework stuff.” As if knowing his reaction, Renjun glances at him and mouths _go along with it._

“But I wanted lunch…” Ten moans as his plans fly out the window. Jaemin’s response to his texts now make total sense. They’re really going to do this now. “Guess you’re leaving without me.”

“Yep, have fun.” Winwin laughs and the rest bid him and the Dreamies goodbye and leave, Lucas already animatedly talking to Jungwoo about what food to get. 

Ten throws himself back into his chair, slouching low as he waits for their chatter to peter out. Around him, the Dreamies fill the empty seats but Jaemin stands near the whiteboard along one wall of the room. 

“Uh… how’s your day going so far, Ten hyung?” Jisung asks. 

“I spent the last couple of hours getting beat up by the Chinese language, then I physically got beat up by a door to the face, and now I’m still in this room, missing out on lunch.”

“So, ‘ _could be worse’_ is what I’m getting from that?”

Ten stares up at the ceiling. He’s too tired for this. “Eh, guess it could be.”

“Well your day has taken a turn for the better because we’re here now!” Chenle says, full of energy Ten wishes he could leech off of him. 

“Actually, I think I did die and now I’m in Hell.”

Jeno taps Ten on the arm and smiles with his eyes. Nevermind, he can’t be in Hell, Jeno’s smiles are too pure for that. “Don’t you want to hear our latest plan for you and Taeyong hyung?”

“Who is it this time,” Ten asks. He does have to admit, he’s been feeling antsy lately, itching to tell Taeyong about his feelings. His feelings are obviously starting to affect his work and studies, so he really hopes they give him a winning idea soon. 

A barking laugh bellows from Jaemin as he puts his hands on his hips and puffs his chest out. “My time, Nana time.” 

“Oh…” Ten cracks a grin at the offended scoff Jaemin sends him. “Why did you sound so disappointed!?”

“Oh… I’m so excited?” He amends but Jaemin’s already closing his eyes and _tsking,_ wagging a disapproving finger at him. 

“Hyung, why do you think we’ve taken so long for this next idea. It’s because I decided my original plan wasn’t up to par, so I upgraded.”

“Upgraded may not be the word I would use,” Renjun mumbles.

Ten turns to Jaemin with a questioning stare. The Dreamie smirks, exuding confidence, and announces, “Basically, I’m gonna tell you what I did that led up to Jeno and I’s confessions and have you do that with Taeyong.” 

“That’s the best you could come up with, your own confession?” Ten scrunches up his face and pouts. “I don’t want a hand-me-down.”

“Hand-me-down? Does that really matter, it worked for us. So technically it has a 100% success rate.” Jaemin persuades and looks to Jeno for support. “And I’m not going to have you do exactly what we did, just the general steps. Tell em’ babe.”

“I think taking inspiration from a previous experience is worth a shot? My idea should have gotten you guys together so we shouldn’t have to be doing this but since that’s not the case, this isn’t too bad...”

Donghyuck snickers and pushes away from the table, leaning back and setting his feet on the polished surface. “Not like you’re biased or anything. I remember us laughing over how yours went.”

“Don’t listen to him, hyung, it‘s not that bad,” Jeno continues, casually shoving Donghyuck’s chair in retaliation. The younger Dreamie squawks, legs bending and arms windmilling as his chair tips to the side but soon returns to the ground when Jisung pushes him back. “Jaemin has it all set.”

Jaemin takes that as a cue to whip out a marker, uncapping it with an audible pop before he begins to write. Ten cranes his head to the side to get a preview of the details, but the words are obscured by his body. Once Jaemin finishes, he does a 180 and grins. “Before I show you, might I give you some backstory. It was a year or so ago, sunny day, cloudless sky, temperature maybe around 27C give or take, I had just finished eating tteokbokki...” 

“Okay that’s enough backstory,” Renjun deadpans and leads him away. On the board, there’s three steps. 

  1. Text, but make it sexy <3
  2. Take him out, but not like kill him x_x
  3. Give him a gift, but not in a sugar daddy way :)



“Uh huh.”

“For us, Jaemin first…um,” Jeno blushes, stammering over the words. 

“When I decided I was going to confess, I flirted over text, _with_ pictures,” Jaemin says bluntly, “I persuaded him to go on a walk with me and then we passed by a convenience store, I threw Jeno’s phone into a bush so he’d be too busy searching for it than see me buy something, and then we confessed next to a trash can.”

“Uh huh,” Ten monotonously repeats. 

“See that’s why I said you conform it to your own preferences, ours might not have been the most romantic thing ever but the steps are solid,” Jaemin asserts, smacking the board. “Just take some time and think it over.”

“Taeyong hyung does like buying stuff, so that means he’d probably like getting stuff too,” Jisung says. “I think giving him something special is the most important part of that. Why do you need to uh… flirt over text though?”

Jeno flushes deep red again. “Uh I guess for me it was more of a mood setter? It… it was hard to say no when Jaemin looked so cute.” 

The Dreamies all look at Ten as he stays silent, awaiting his input. Ten brings a leg up to his chest and rests his head on his knee, humming lightly. Offhandedly, he asks, “Do you guys think I’m a flirt?” 

Collectively, the younger members’ mouths fall open, none of them were really expecting that question. Ten lifts his head when he receives no response, eyes narrowing. “Well am I?” 

“I don’t know if I’d call you flirty,” Jisung deliberately says, “but you’re very social and playful. Which, I guess could be taken as flirty to people who don’t know you well enough?” 

Ten frowns. “Taeyong thinks I’m just acting like my usual self with him. Texting him selfies, asking him to go hang out somewhere, and giving him gifts isn’t very telling, we all do that normally. How can I show him that I’m not treating him like just another friend?”

Jaemin claps his hands together. “Conveniently, I also made a list of seven things for you to remember that I had told myself to follow before confessing. And since I’m trying to improve my English skills —I wasn't lying about that homework part— I will use English words.”

“I can’t believe you’re voluntarily studying,” Ten cries, “what’s the date today, I have to record this for the books.”

“You’re so dramatic, hyung. Give me a sec, I’ll write it all out first,” Jaemin says as he grabs a marker and quickly puts the rest of his list onto the board in descending order. Stepping to the side, he joins the others as they all take a long look at the whiteboard. 

Forwardness

Adaptive

Intent

Level-headedness

Upbeat

Relentless

Exclusive

Ten tilts his head to the side, eyes squinting as he reads the first letter of each word. Does it spell what he thinks it spells? Yeah… it does. Just to make sure he’s not the only one seeing it, he takes a quick glance to his left and right; realization is slowly dawning on the others’ faces.

“...” 

Jaemin curses underneath his breath and lets out a long exhale of air. “Huh… was not expecting it to spell _that_ out.” 

“Honestly, I’m still stuck on the fact that you managed to order them correctly,” Renjun says.

Jeno goes to Jaemin and pats him lightly on the back. “Your heart was in the right place.” 

“So… the acronym could be better,” Jaemin admits, “But I’m gonna say this anyway. Whenever you’re in a situation, remember to think about F.A.I.L.U.R.E…” 

“It sounds _so_ much worse when you say it out loud,” Donghyuck remarks, joining Chenle and Jisung as they laugh their asses off. 

“Shhhh, okay it’s pretty bad but let me explain it,” Jaemin chides and points to each number. “Forwardness is a given. Hyung, you’re already pretty ballsy so I think that won’t be a problem. Situations can go every which way all the time so adapting to change is key. Your intent is to confess, so do everything you can to reach that. Level-headedness is needed because you like Taeyong and he —pardon my French— dense as hell so try to stay upbeat, which is the fifth point. Relentlessness equates to not giving up even if it’s not going well.”

Jaemin underlines the last word. “What you’re needing is exclusivity. Make sure he knows that your flirty actions are only for him. That may push him to realize you’re not just hanging out as friends.”

“Not gonna lie, it’s a little weird getting love advice from teenagers,” Ten sighs. “But it’s pretty solid advice, terrible acronym and all. And yet, even with your good ideas, this is my fourth attempt.” 

“If you guys aren’t together by following my instructions, then I’ve failed and I will sit in the shower for an hour and cry over my defeat.” 

Ten looks over at Jeno, who slowly shakes his head and mouths a deliberate “ _no._ ” 

Why can’t he have what they have?

Maybe he will after this attempt. Fourth time’s the charm… right?  
.

.

.

Selfies are fun. 

As an idol, he has to take many informal photos for social media sites, album contents, and music shows. He also takes them just in general… because they’re fun and he loves showing off. Ten knows his angles and how to accent whatever feature of his he wants: his eyes, his smile, his profile, etc. Flashing a peace sign? Overused, but not overrated. In short, personal photos aren’t that hard to take: just pose, press a button, done. Perfect picture. 

So why can’t he do that now? 

Ten anxiously bites his lip, light illuminating his face in a ghastly way as he scrolls through the numerous photos he’s taken. It’s nearing the evening, but the summer sun still sits in the sky. None of the sunlight shines into his room though; he’s closed his curtains and turned his lights off, wanting to create the illusion of a more intimate space. However, none of his selfies are turning out how they should, there’s always some bit of imperfection about them. This one is too casual, that one is too sensual, the next is too emotionless. 

Rolling onto his stomach, Ten holds his torso up with his forearms. He moves his weight onto one arm, cradling his cheek with a hand as he uses the other to lift his phone up and to the side. His eyes are on full display this way if he tilts his head forward, and he combines them with a playful pout to really get the flirty effect going. It also helps that in this position, the camera angle captures his collarbone and then some as his low cut sleeveless shirt dips down and disappears into a promising darkness. 

With a flash of light, he takes his shot and knows, this is “the one _”_ to use. That’s out of the way, too bad that’s not the hardest step of this process. He goes into Taeyong and his’ text room; the last time they’d talked was a few hours ago over some generic topic. Hopefully this new conversation isn’t too off the cuff. 

Tenlee: Taeyong? 

Taeyong starts typing a response seconds after the “sent” appears under his text, thank god he’s not one of those people that think answering quickly is lame. Ten couldn’t handle the purgatory-like time spent waiting for an answer. 

❤️Yongie❤️: Tennie~~ Hi!

Tenlee: Ohh ㅋㅋㅋㅋ you actually replied. Ummm… are you free?

Unless you're too busy lol then nevermindddd 😅 

❤️Yongie❤️: I’m not~~~ I was painting. What did you want to say? 

Selecting his pouty, semi revealing selfie and typing a curt message, Ten squeezes his eyes shut before pressing send. 

Tenlee: _Attachment- IMG0960227_

Aren’t I cute? ^^

❤️Yongie❤️: B

So… he knows Taeyong can be a goofy person sometimes, but the letter “B” is weird, like _really_ weird, even for him. 

Tenlee: B? ㅋㅋㅋ What is that supposed to mean lol

❤️Yongie❤️: Oh sorry, I dropped my phone~~ You look comfy ㅋㅋ why are you pouting though? :( 

Out of all the things Taeyong could glean from that picture, he focuses on his pout. He didn’t even think it was a cutesy pout, no, he thinks it’s a sad pout. 

_Okay, Ten. You can still work with this, remember the acronym._

Tenlee: I’m so bored right nowww 

❤️Yongie❤️: Hmm… you should go out! Get some food or practice? 

Taeyong _would_ suggest eating or work. It’s like an exact representation of his on vs. off work sides of him.

Tenlee: I don’t want to go alone though ㅋㅋㅋ

❤️Yongie❤️: Are the Dreamies free? Or maybe Johnny or Mark ^^ 

Is he sending cute selfies to Johnny or Mark? Fuck no. Read the room Taeyong. 

Tenlee: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ lol Yongie you’re so funnyyy I was thinking someone more along the lines of you? 😉

❤️Yongie❤️: Me? 

Tenlee: Yessss you lol

❤️Yongie❤️: Why me? 

Tenlee: Why not you, I want only you silly ㅋㅋㅋ

Three typing dots appear under Taeyong’s name for a split second, then they disappear. Why did Taeyong stop mid response, what does that mean!? Ten brings his phone close to his face, fingers clenched as he anxiously waits for a text bubble. Was he too forward? He made sure to show Taeyong that he’s the only one he wants, he was upbeat, he was persuasive. Did messing up one key point fuck him over? 

Ten grabs the closest pillow to him and shoves his face into it, letting loose a scream of frustration. Why is it so easy to tease and play with others when feelings aren’t involved, but right when they are, he can’t even get one sentence out without breaking out into a nervous panic. Life is but a terrible and unforgiving game, and he’s on a losing streak. 

His phone vibrates and Ten practically shoves it into his face, eyes zeroing in on the new message. 

❤️Yongie❤️: Ok~~

Take it all back, life is beautiful and amazing and benevolent. With just one word, Taeyong has thrust his heartbeat into overdrive, filled his chest with butterflies, and bombarded him with enough serotonin to make him feel like he’s on cloud nine. He feels like he could scream, cry, laugh, and squeal, preferably not all at once. 

Tenlee: Cool :)

.

.

.

It’s a little past 6 and Ten waits on a corner near the Dream dorm for Taeyong to meet him. They had decided to take a relaxing walk along the semi-busy streets, and stop if along the way they’d pass by something of interest. Which they will. Ten made sure of that. 

His plan is to lead Taeyong towards an infamous entertainment hotspot district (not _that_ kind of entertainment) with plenty of stores housing arcade games and other things of the sort. They often use plushies as prizes, and Taeyong loves cute stuffed toys, so Ten will win him one as his gift. After, the mood will be perfectly set to confess, except they are _not_ having that moment by a trash can, no matter how Jaemin and Jeno’s went. 

On the way to the entertainment area, Ten hopes to prep the atmosphere even more towards the right direction. He’s already given himself a mental pep talk and the seven things he should remember are front and center in his mind. 

“Ten! Hey!” Taeyong enters his view as he walks towards him, a sweatshirt and jeans combo fitted perfectly over his frame.

Ten takes one last big inhale before greeting him with a wide grin. “Hey! Let’s get going before the sun goes down.”

They walk side by side at a leisurely stroll, at first taking in the sounds of the city, the hum of cars and the quiet chatter of other pedestrians. Ten peeks at Taeyong through his bangs; he has a soft, content look on his face, a small smile on his lips. His profile is so beautiful lit up by the various street lights and sunset, Ten wishes he could commit it to memory. Transfixed, he misses when Taeyong turns his head to look at him, eyes curving upwards as he regards him. 

“Whatcha looking at, Tennie?” 

“You’re hot,” Ten blurts out obviously without thinking because HOLY SHIT if he was using his brain he wouldn’t have said that so crudely. 

A lovely flush rises on Taeyong’s cheeks and he quickly turns back to look forward, breathy laughter activated. “I’m not that good looking.” 

“No, you are,” Ten asserts, “I don’t just say that to anyone.”

Taeyong’s voice drops to a whisper and he turns his head slightly away from Ten. “You say it quite often to the others.”

“Well because they _are,_ have you seen Johnny’s abs?” Wait, this isn’t going good, why is he bringing up his friend’s abs? Adapt to the situation. “Um… let's forget I brought it up. I’m glad you came with me. I was getting lonely.”

“I’m flattered you wanted me specifically,” Taeyong giggles, loosening up a bit. “It’s not often we hang out in public areas like this.”

“I just had a feeling, you know? That going out tonight with you would lead to something special.” He’s being corny as fuck but if this works then call him Korean street food cause there’s plenty more corn where that came from. 

Taeyong smiles, humming in response. “Is that why you sent that extra pouty selfie to convince me into coming?”

“ _E_ _xactly._ Did you like it, hyung?” His words light with a coy bite to them. “I put a lot of effort into it for you.” _Just for you._

Taeyong fixes him with a wide eyed stare. He looks a lot more softer without makeup on. “R-Really? It paid off, it was a good picture...” He stuffs his hands into his sweatshirt pocket as a distant look crosses his face. Ten wants to continue, but it’s clear that Taeyong’s in his own little world right now, so he quiets and lets silence take over. 

There’s no tension between them and he can feel an underlying thrum of _something more_ in his bones, bathing him in anticipation. Taeyong must feel it too, feel the difference in how this trip with him isn’t the same as going with a normal friend. Feel how much Ten loves him. Well, maybe not that last part but he’s getting to that.

It’s in their comfortable silence that they arrive at Ten's destination area. The streets glow with neon lights flickering from storefronts and the various solo machines spread here and there down the street edges. Out of the corner of his eye, Ten sees Taeyong take long, thoughtful glances at each place they pass, eyes locked on the contents of each machine. 

“Hey, those are pretty cute.” Facing the direction Taeyong’s pointing, Ten sees a colorful claw machine filled with stuffed toys, its bright lights advertising fun for only 1000 won a try. They walk over, and upon closer inspection he sees that the glass box is full of cat and dog plushies. Taeyong lets out a noise of excitement, eyes focused on a black cat near the center of the toy mound.

“Do you like that one in the middle? The cat?” Ten asks. Taeyong gives him a small smile and nods. 

“It reminds me of someone.”

Looks like this is the plushie to get. Ten fishes out his wallet and takes out a few coins, inserting two into the machine. Some cheesy music plays and the mechanical claw comes to life, lights blinking expectantly. Placing one hand on the joystick and the other on the large red button, Ten throws a confident smirk to Taeyong. “You’re going home with a plus one.”

This can’t be too hard, the toy is right on top of the others, so no part of it could be bogged down by the other plushies. With a steady hand, Ten moves the claw until it hangs just above the cat. He presses the button and the claw gradually falls down slowly to create some sort of suspense, and locks onto the plushie’s head. As the claw starts to rise with his prize, Ten excitedly turns to Taeyong. “See, I got it firs—”

Movement out of the corner of his eye has Ten glancing back to the glass box just as the toy falls out of the claw's grasp and back to the pile. He had it right there… 

“These sort of things aren’t as simple as they look,” Taeyong explains, sympathy lacing his voice when he sees Ten’s dismayed face. “I usually just play for the experience.”

“Oh… well I’ll just have to spend a little more.” Ten starts the machine up again as Taeyong takes his place next to him, shoulders touching as they crowd the front of the glass. Hyper aware of their contact, Ten allows himself a few seconds to mentally fanboy over it before he rolls his shoulders and cracks his knuckles. 

“Let’s get it.”  
.

.

.

“Why don’t we leave,” Taeyong suggests as Ten furiously jams another 1000 won into the machine, eyes filled with hatred. “This is taking up more time than I think it should.”

“Leaving is for quitters Taeyong,” Ten hisses, eyes glued to the cursed cat where it rests against the walls of the drop zone area, its freakishly big eyes staring mockingly into his soul. “And quitters don’t get far in life. I'm getting the damn plushie for you.” 

It had become apparent to Ten early on that a gung ho attitude and a good cause were not enough to win at these games. The claw would have enough strength to grip onto the toy, but once it started its journey towards the exit, at some point it would release. In the beginning, it had been easy to laugh it off and continue, but as his failed attempts rose so did his mounting irritation. 

Taeyong looks conflicted. “You don’t seem to be having fun though.”

_Oh crap, gotta be upbeat._

“I am. See?” Ten forces his lips into some half-assed imitation of a smile, followed by a dry laugh. “I’m having so much… fun. Ha. Ha.”

“Yeah… whatever you say.” He doesn’t sound very convinced. “But besides that, you’ve already spent over 15k won too.”

“I’ll spend as much as it takes— FUCK IT WAS _RIGHT_ THERE.”

Taeyong hastily lifts Ten up by his underarms and pulls him back when he kicks out at the machine with a frustrated cry. “Who owns these things!? They’re so rigged!” 

“Please calm down,” Taeyong begs as he holds tight onto Ten, who’s growling like a cat that got drenched in cold water. “It’s not good to draw attention to ourselves.”

“I _am_ calm! It’s just getting overshadowed by my feverous anger at the moment. Now let me go.” 

“No.”

“...Taeyong _.”_

“Ten.”

Ten squirms against his hold; he may have accidentally kicked Taeyong in the shins a few times but still the elder doesn’t release him. Slumping against the body behind him, Ten lets the energy drain from his body and quiets when he realizes his actions are getting him nowhere. There’s a low sigh just over his head, and when Taeyong speaks, it’s cautious, placating.

“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the sentiment… but really, I don’t need one at the expense of your money and good mood.” Turning his head towards the ground, Ten scowls and refuses to reply. Taeyong doesn’t push him, probably too busy trying to think of a solution to this mess, but soon enough he releases a soft sound of exclamation. Cheerfully, Taeyong starts, “There’s always next time. Why don’t we go and—”

A voice that sounds strangely reminiscent of Jaemin’s pops into Ten’s head, completely drowning out Taeyong’s babbling. 

_Remember to follow the successful components of F.A.I.L.U.R.E! Gotta be relentless, have intent. Taeyong really wants the plush but he’s just saying he doesn’t. Who wouldn’t want a cute plushie? Do you want to show your love to Taeyong or not?_

He does, he really does, but like, he also doesn’t want to go broke and insane from frustration. 

… 

“Are you okay with that? Want to go now?” At those words, Ten blinks back into the current situation and turns his head upwards, Taeyong’s hopeful face entering his line of vision. Peering into the elder’s chocolate orbs, Ten smiles slightly, eliciting one of relief from Taeyong. 

Fuck it he’s not leaving. Money is temporary, love is eternal. 

“Okay,” Ten murmurs softly, agreeing to something —he honestly has no idea what, doesn’t matter though— and when Taeyong’s arms loosen, Ten takes the opportunity to press back against him and lurch forwards to the machine. Taeyong stumbles backwards, eyes widening when he sees the younger moving the crane again, fingers drumming a restless beat on the metal.

“W-What!?” Taeyong whines when he recovers, “You said you were okay with leaving!”

“Yeah, I did. I lied.”

His senses are telling him Taeyong’s approaching him again; it’s basically confirmed when Taeyong’s strained voice grows louder as he tries to get his attention again. “ _Please_ , after this one let’s go.”

Ten whips around and lifts his arm to jab his index finger right into Taeyong’s chest, drawing a tiny ‘ow’ from him. With his other hand, he points to the corner of the machine, arm ramrod straight. 

“Sit your bony ass down,” Ten growls, “and let me get you this fucking cat.”

Taeyong stares helplessly at him, Adam’s Apple bobbing as he takes a hard gulp. Ten snaps his fingers impatiently and motions back to the ground. 

In record speed, Taeyong sits, back against the metal body, and brings his knees to his chest. 

“I’ll get it soon,” Ten says, already inserting more coins as the toy drops from the claw _again_ , “I’ve gotten the hang of it now.”

Taeyong releases a low sigh but stays put. As time passes, Ten sort of loses track of reality, all that matters in his life right now is the game. The game and its annoyingly peppy music, weak ass claw, and stupidly cute plushies. If he had to pick between death and playing this game again, get the coffin because he’s not even going to walk in it’s vicinity after this.

But before Ten can do that, he’s a man with a mission, and nothing is going to stop him. He’d even told off some kids who had come up to him and said he wasn’t being “fair” and was “hogging it.” Well, life isn’t fair, so he technically did them a favor by giving them a taste of the real world. 

Has it been thirty minutes yet? Shorter? Longer? Ten has no clue, he’s on autopilot.

Insert 1000 won, move the claw, press the button, wait, curse the world, rinse and repeat. 

How much money has he spent? That’s a mystery he doesn’t have an answer for and hopefully, it will stay that way lest he give himself cardiac arrest. He’s so focused, Taeyong could have ditched him at this point and he wouldn’t have realized it. 

Actually, he may want to check on that last part. Ten turns to his side, causing Taeyong to perk up from where he’d been spacing out, staring into the street. 

“Are you—”

“Nope.”

Taeyong buries his head in his hands and groans.  
.

.

.

His victory is so anticlimactic, Ten almost misses it. Like every other time, the machine goes through it’s routine, but this time the toy rises up, doesn’t fall, moves a few inches, and drops with a soft thump into the retrieval bin. Ten stares blankly at the claw as it jerks back to its starting position.

He looks down at the bin. At the claw. At the bin. 

“Oh, I got it.”

Ten crouches, joints cracking from standing for so long, and shoves his hand through the plastic prize door, squeezing when his fingers meet soft fur. The cartoonishly cute features of the black cat _finally_ appear without a layer of glass between them when he retracts his hand.

“I-I _got_ it.” 

“Taeyong! Taeyong!” Ten scrambles to Taeyong and grabs his shoulder, shaking his prone figure in his excitement. Taeyong jerks awake, having dozed off a bit ago, and is met with his body being roughly manhandled side-to-side. 

“W-Wha!? What’s happening!?” 

Ten throws the plush into Taeyong’s lap and grabs his cheeks with both hands, squishing his face. Taeyong tries to mumble something from his fish-like puckered lips, but it turns into a muffled _mmpphhh_ as his head is directed downwards. 

“Yong, look, I got it.” Ten’s voice is a weird breathy mix of hysterical and awestruck, gaze fixated on the plush like it would vanish if he looked away. As much as his current state allows him, Taeyong nods and hums his appreciation when Ten turns his face to look at him, eyes curved upwards with a smile full of teeth. “I said I’d win eventually, didn’t I?”

Taeyong nods his head again and gently pries Ten’s hands off of his face. “You did. I’m happy for you.” He picks up the plushie and holds it out to Ten, who stares at it in confusion. “I know you were originally getting it for me… but I think you should keep it, you spent all this time and money, I would feel bad if I had it.”

Ten’s smile drops into a grimace. That’s not how this is supposed to go. “No, you keep it, I got it for you.” 

“Well I think you deserve it,” Taeyong shifts his hand closer while Ten leans away from it like it's radioactive. 

“I don’t want it, it’s yours.” 

“I’m giving it back to you then.” Ten rolls his eyes at that. Why is Taeyong being so persistent, does he really not want to get a gift from him so bad now? He didn’t want to bring out the guilt trip, but with Taeyong, he should know that the utmost of drastic measures are probably going to be needed.

“Lee Taeyong. I will cry right now if you don’t keep the damn plushie _you_ wanted that I _voluntarily_ got for _you_. I will do it, you know I’m an easy crier.”

“You’re so unfair,” Taeyong whines, but nevertheless brings the cat to his chest, gingerly holding it. Ten smiles, satisfied, and thinks back to what the next part of Jaemin’s plan was. Oh right, it’s confession time.

Ten opens his mouth, words on the tip of his tongue, but a hard look at Taeyong has him stuttering to a stop. He looks…uncomfortable?

“Yongie? Are you okay? I-I know I kind of went a little crazy there but it’s all over.” 

Taeyong stares at the plush, subconsciously rubbing a pointy ear between his fingers. “I’m kind of tired, it’s been a long night and I just want to go back to the dorm please.”

He was soooooo close… why can’t Taeyong see he did all that for him? He followed the steps to a T… 

“Alright, let's go back.”  
.

.

.

“Where did I go wrong? I followed your steps and the acronym.” Ten moans before stuffing another heaping spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, slumped on their kitchen floor.

His only companion, Jaemin, sits on top of the counter, legs hanging over the edge as he bends over in thought. He’d shooed everyone away, to which Ten is grateful for, when he had come back and went straight for the freezer. “What exactly did you do?”

“I texted him, went on a walk, set the mood, and then got him a toy plushie.” 

“From one of those claw machines?”

Ten nods and shovels more ice cream down. Man, this ice cream sucks. Like his night. 

Jaemin grins and gives him a few tiny claps. “Those are so hard to win at, none of us have ever won anything from one. You must have a special touch.” 

“Oh, what? No, I don't. I failed like a million times and spent a crap ton of money and time. It was completely dark by the time I finished. Speaking of money, I can only eat pack ramen for the next month or so.”

“Did he like it at least?”

“He wanted me to keep it but I was not about to let my plans fall through so I coerced him into keeping it.” Ten shrugs. “It’ll grow on him again.” 

“You’re going to Stockholm Syndrome him into liking the plushie. Ten hyuuuuung,” Jaemin moans, “You were way too intense. F.A.I.L.U.R.E is only successful if you do it right… you emphasized the _‘IR’_ and didn’t balance the _‘FALUE_.’ Also you made him sit on the ground for an absurd amount of time while you took on claw game capitalism.” He shakes his head. “I can say that is definitely a mood killer.”

Ten throws away the ice cream tub with a scowl when his spoon scrapes air. He leans against the cabinets. “I just can’t think straight when I’m with him, my mind zeros in like _hey that’s your crush_ , and suddenly I make all the wrong decisions. I should have gone to a convenience store instead and given him dollar chocolates.” 

“Don’t kill yourself over it,” Jaemin’s lips quirk to the side. “What I never told you is that Jeno and I had many times before the successful one where we wanted to say something to the other, but it was ruined by something like our fear or outside factors. Failure is normal… just not normally on the scale that yours are.”

Ten groans, lolling his head to the side to give Jaemin a pout. “I wish it wasn’t, this much failure sucks.”

“Failure sucks… but _F.A.I.L.U.R.E_ doesn’t.”

He has no more fucks to give tonight. “Nana, you said you were learning more English, yeah?”

“Yeah?”

Claw games might not be his strong suit, but at least he can succeed at one thing this night.

“We’re changing that god forsaken acronym.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was the bane of my existence but thankfully, it’s done now. 
> 
> Hopefully my next chapters are more cohesive, this one felt like a Frankenstein’s monster lol


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a long, long time. I’m so sorry to all who had been reading this; I didn’t expect to take this much time.  
> Basically I had a lot of this chapter thought out, and some written, but then IRL completely demanded all of my time so I hadn’t been able to write the rest or even read fan fiction :(  
> I don’t know how this happened but this chapter is like the same length as every other chapter before combined...

**V.**

“Hey Lele, what zodiac sign are you?” Ten asks, flipping through the sleek pages of a magazine as he lazily skims the articles. Chenle looks up from his phone, the sound of gunshots and explosions abruptly quieting as he pauses his game. 

“Chinese?” 

“No, Western.”

“I’m a Sagittarius but like, I’m on the cusp between it and Scorpio,” Chenle says, voice gaining a questioning tone as he adds, “Why do you need to know?” 

Ten turns back to a previous page and holds it up to the younger, pointing to a multicolored chart with different numbers in each box. “This magazine is pretty boring but It has a neat zodiac pairing chart.” He searches down the far left column until he hits the arrow sign representing Sagittarius. “Now what’s Jisung’s?” 

“I think it’s Aquarius but I could be wrong.” 

“Jisung!” At Ten’s excited call, Jisung pops his head into the living room from the kitchen hallway. 

“Yeah?” 

“What’s your zodiac sign?” 

“Aquarius,” Jisung replies almost instantly, jumping as Chenle laughs out loud with a pleased, “Yes!” 

“Aquarius… that makes sense,” Ten says with a pleased smile. With the two youngest members’ curiosities piqued, Ten looks up and singles out one square. “This says your signs are compatible, not surprising since you are such good friends and all. This chart is probably for romance, but I’m guessing it can work for any type of relationship.” 

Jisung moves over to Ten, only complaining a little when Ten pulls him down to sit in his lap. Ten holds the magazine out so Jisung can read, eyes scanning the various scores. “I didn’t know you believed in this kind of stuff, hyung.” 

“I really don’t, but it’s interesting to see how accurate it can be,” Ten responds, snorting when he sees his and Johnny’s signs receive a low compatibility score; guess it really is for romance then. He takes a snapshot and goes to his and Johnny’s texts.

Tenlee:  _ Attachment- 08395321 _

Do you actually love me?🤨

“Are you guys talking about romance!?” 

Jaemin slides into the room, pan in hand, and gives Ten a frown. After him, Jeno appears with a cup of instant ramen, while Renjun and Haechan, who’s visiting, carry bags of chips. 

“Oh, are we trying that out today?” Jisung exclaims. Ten pokes him on the arm. “What are we trying out exactly?”

Renjun shakes his bag of chips. “I learned about this food hack from a friend. Get this, ramen… but on potato chips.”

“It’s a revolutionary concept,” Haechan says as he mimes his head exploding, “You get spicy and salty in one bite, every bite.” The Dreamies all nod seriously, looking awfully proud of themselves considering they’re eating the meal equivalent to what a college student with only three bucks to their name would make.

All this talk about food brings back memories of the pictures Taeyong sent him a few nights ago of the homemade kimchi and gimbap he made for his group members. Taeyong had offered to bring him some, but he had declined out of politeness, stating that he had food here at his dorm. If he had known the food at the dorm would be this… Ten’s stomach growls pitifully. 

“Ten hyung, don’t knock it till you try it,” Jeno says placatingly as if sensing his pain, “Jaemin’s frying eggs to put on it too.” 

“I don’t need to jump off a cliff first to know I’m not going to like falling off of a cliff,” Ten retorts. His phone buzzes and Ten grins when he sees a reply from Johnny.

Johbro: It’s all been a ruse, I’ve left you for my true love ❤️

Tenlee: It’s Taeil hyung isn’t it

Johbro: You know I can’t resist our Moonie 🌙

Tenlee: Aw you wound me 💔 ㅋㅋㅋ

But seriously I’m revoking your best friend license.

Johbro: You’re just jealous 😏

Distracted due to his text conversation, Ten doesn’t notice Renjun grab the magazine beside him. “The Complete Zodiac Compatibility Chart- Are You and Your Crush Meant to Be?”

Jaemin gasps. “Hold up, you guys are doing astrology readings? Do me and Jeno, you know our signs right.”

Renjun moves his fingers across the columns and rows of scores until he stops on one. “Taurus and Leo. Hey, it’s a pretty high score.”

“Of course it is, those readings never lie and we’re obviously made for each other,” Jaemin states, satisfied, as Donghyuck snatches the magazine from Renjun. “Ohhhh, I wanna check me and Mark’s.”

Jeno bites back a grin. “You sure about that?” 

Donghyuck gives him a stink eye and takes a few seconds to find his and Mark’s score, the answer bringing a pompous smirk to his face. “So… our score was higher than yours.”

Jeno and Jaemin gape at him before Jaemin dismisses the magazine with a flippant turn of his head. “Astrology is dumb. There’s no real science backing it up.” 

“You're just jealous we could, and would _,_ be a hotter couple,” Donghyuck gloats. “Speaking of hot couples, hyung, let's do your and Taeyong hyung’s signs. Maybe it’ll give us a clue as to why you’re still single.” 

“You really didn’t need to include that last part,” Ten starts, crossing his arms as he glares at Donghyuck, “and I don’t need a chart telling me if I’m compatible with him or not.”

Donghyuck dangles the magazine above Ten’s head, eyes innocently wide. “Even if it’s a 98% compatibility score, the highest score only a select few pairings got?” 

“Give me the magazine now,” Ten commands, previous disinterest gone, and practically rips it from Donghyuck’s hands.

What Donghyuck said was actually true. In the square where Pisces and Cancer meet, a bright red 98 sits, along with multiple hearts. Other scores only have one heart, or none at all. Their signs have multiple; that must mean something good _._ Below the chart, a few paragraphs of writing detail the specific backings of why certain signs have the score that they have. 

“Pisces and Cancer are a very compatible pair,” Ten reads aloud, mystified, “Their relationships are made and strengthened by deep, valued emotional connections. They intuitively understand each other and both thrive off of romance and the sensitivity of their partner. Pisces, sociable and idealistic, can find stability and trust in an empathetic and grounding Cancer. A bond made through strong emotional understanding is one to last.” 

Ten drops the magazine, completely floored. The similarities between the magazine's relationship characteristics and between Taeyong’s and his own is nearly uncanny. Maybe astrology isn’t just some phoney star pseudoscience after all. 

Jisung picks the magazine up, eyes darting back to the article. “Wait, you missed this next part. A Pisces and Cancer’s emotional connection is the groundwork for many aspects of their lives, intimacy included. Behind bedroom doors, the—”

“Nonono, stop talking!” Ten covers Jisung’s eyes with one hand while the other grabs the sinful magazine and chucks it across the room. The follow-up glare and point combo he sends towards every one of them seems to get his point across well enough.

Touch it, see what happens. 

Ten brings a hand to his racing heart. The others would absolutely  _ murder _ him if they found out he almost let their innocent(?) souls read about the sexual workings between zodiac signs. 

The Dreamies shouldn’t be reading about that kind of stuff. He, on the other hand, is a full-fledged adult… 

Ten makes a mental note to go back to that paragraph when he’s in the safety of his own bedroom for some… extra reading…  _ just _ to really make sure he has a good grasp on the whole zodiac thing. 

“You guys are going to forget that last part,” Ten instructs, waiting until he gets a confirmative nod from everyone, “and we are moving on.” 

“So what that’s telling us is you guys are pretty much perfect for each other, at least in a general personality sense, so either he just doesn’t like you or you suck executing our ideas,” Renjun lists off, holding up two fingers.

“Or all of the above,” Jeno adds.

Have teenagers always been this savagely blunt? Ten lays his head on the back of the couch to stare up at the ceiling. “Okay, I’m not even going to acknowledge that first one. Also, I’m not the only one screwing up your ideas, you guys aren’t completely innocent here, remember your creepy love letter? And now that I know Pisces is an emotional sign, that’s now my excuse for why I keep on failing this stupid confession.”

Renjun moves until his head is directly over Ten’s, looking down with an ambitious grin. “Actually, I’m glad you read that excerpt on Pisces and Cancer relationships, that can tie in to my idea for you two. After your claw machine fiasco, Jaemin told us you were a bit— who am I kidding, you were way too overzealous with trying to meet self-made goals for the confession or for yourself. So I thought to avoid situations like that, you need to do something more low key, more traditional. Something where you two can connect with each other on a deep emotional level. What I’m saying is, why don’t you just take him on a normal date.” 

Renjun finishes his speech and waits for Ten, who stares back without saying anything. “Ten hyung, I’m done. That was my idea for you.”

Ten blinks once his mind fully processes what Renjun just said, mouth opening with a soft ‘oh.’ “I’m waiting for the rest of it.”

“There is no rest, that’s it.”

“What’s the catch though?”

“There is no catch.”

“There has to be a catch.”

“This isn’t baseball. That’s my whole idea. No claw machines, no exaggerated flirty behavior, no hiding in closets, no nothing. Just you and him at a cafe or along the Han River or somewhere else romantic.”

“That’s really simple.”

“Do you want me to make it crazy? I’ll make it crazy.”

“No, I’m perfectly okay with your plan. It’s just so normal.”

“And that’s how it’s going to stay. The others have made you think insane ideas are the only acceptable ways to go about this. But really, they’re not. You are going to act completely chill during this.” 

Ten pouts and absentmindedly blows a strand of hair off of his face. “What do I do if something comes up that could ruin everything?”

Renjun is quiet for a moment before the saddest sigh Ten’s ever heard leaves his lips, a weathered sound that has his fight or flight instincts kicking in. Ten lifts his head back up when Renjun moves away. 

“Junnie, what was that sigh for?”

“So before you get mad I have to say, I was outvoted and I really didn’t want to invade your privacies like this but they said it was a necessary precaution with you so—”

“We’re gonna follow you and Taeyong hyung,” Chenle interrupts, eyes sparkling with excitement, “Not like, really close, but at a distance. And when something interferes with you guys, we’ll step in so you don’t have to. Oh and don’t worry, when we follow you we’ll cover our faces so Taeyong hyung doesn’t recognize us.”

Either he’s lost the rest of his fucks to give or they’ve finally broken him past caring because strangely, Ten isn’t very surprised, only betrayed. “So you did lie. This is like baseball after all, that’s the catch.”

“Well, technically there wasn’t any catch with my idea for _you._ This is a totally different part of the plan.”

He doesn’t need to use words to get his opinion across to Renjun, a crooked grimace and withering stare are enough. 

“The votes have been cast, I couldn’t stop them even if I wanted to. Sorry hyung.” He doesn’t sound very sorry. 

“It’s whatever. The weekend is coming up, I’ll ask Taeyong to join me to hang out at some places and I’ll text you the details after we make plans. And if something unexpected happens I’ll wait for you guys to intervene,” Ten decides and crosses his arms, giving the Dreamies a passive look. “Is that chill enough?”

“That’s exactly what I want,” Renjun agrees. “This is the best possible route to go, just think of it like you’re going on a normal day out with him.”

“But with stalkers.”

“Yeah, but with stalkers.”

“So it’s all settled then?” Jeno points back to the kitchen. “Can we eat now, I’m starving.”

Ten’s phone lights up with another notification from Johnny. This time it’s a picture of his floor’s kitchen table topped with a generous spread of food. 

JohBro: Guess what TY made? 😋

An uproar comes from where Chenle is. Jisung makes an excited sound and moves off of his lap to join the rest of the Dreamies where they circle Chenle, who holds up two potato chips, one with ramen on it. As if that’s not weird enough, they all eagerly start chanting “Fusion! Fusion!”

“Ramen potato chip plus potato chip on top equals… potato chip ramen sandwich!” 

Another notification buzz from his phone pulls Ten’s attention from whatever the fuck is going on with the Dreamies, and to his surprise, it’s a text from Taeyong. It’s a solo selfie, and Taeyong looks like he just got out of bed, hair ruffled and eyes crinkled as he holds up a peace sign. 

❤️Yongie❤️: Wish you were here

To try some food! I made a lot of new dishes~~

Have you all eaten yet? 

Ten looks back over to where the Dreamies now seem to be trying to make a tower out of ramen and potato chips. 

Tenlee: They’re eating something alright ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

❤️Yongie❤️: What does that mean?

Ten what are you guys eating.

Ten?

Do I need to come over there?

.

.

.

“Ten, what’s up?”

Taeyong’s voice isn’t in its normal mid range. No, it’s in that low timbre he has when he’s been rapping, deep and piercing. And it’s definitely not what Ten was expecting to be met with when he called him later that day. 

For a long time Ten has known what he likes in a person; there’s a list of general traits that everyone he has ever been interested in exhibits. Taeyong checks off pretty much most of his list, and coupled with getting to know him much more personally, it has resulted in a crush on Taeyong.

He also knows that, while not necessarily too important, there are other aspects of a person that puts them a tad bit higher on his attraction level to them. Taeyong also happens to possess one of those aspects. You know where this is going.

So when he hears that rasp —of his name too— resonate directly into his ear, his terrible response is to laugh, half-hysterically, because  _ damn, hello. _

It’s a simple concept: normal Taeyong is nice… cute… but rough voice Taeyong? 

That’s nice. __

“Uh… Ten? Are you okay?” Thank god Taeyong’s voice somewhat returns to its normal pitch as he clears his throat and repeats Ten’s name hesitantly. Ten moves the phone away from him, taking a few seconds to regain his composure, and lets out a shaky laugh into the receiver when he brings it back to his ear. 

“Taeyong, sorry, I just… saw something funny on Twitter. Have you been rapping recently?” 

“Yeah, I was working on some stuff,” Taeyong murmurs softly, and okay, he can breathe easy now, no more sinfully sexy tones, crisis averted. Ten looks at the time just to clarify his budding suspicion; it’s way after normal working hours for them. 

“Are you at the studio?” 

“Yeah.” 

So his suspicions were correct, Taeyong is overworking himself. Now he’s annoyed. 

“Why are you still working, pack up and go back to your dorm.” 

“I’m not going to stay too long, I was only going to be another hour or two,” Taeyong whines and Ten wishes he had face-timed him instead so he could give Taeyong the eye roll of the century. 

Maybe he should try to play the health card. “I’ve been told this isn’t the first time that you’ve been working late into the evening outside of your schedule, that can’t be good for your health.” 

“M’ fine, I brought snacks and water with me.” 

“That’s still not healthy at all,” Ten replies, furrowing his brows in exasperation. “Why are you even staying late? I know you have a lot on your plate but even you don’t need to stay this long.”

There’s low breathing on the other end before Taeyong quietly says, “I just have a lot going through my head lately. The studio is one of the only places I can be alone and try and work everything out.” 

Ten wants to tell him he’s being stupidly ambitious, but deep down he understands Taeyong’s actions. Taeyong is —and always has been— relentless in his goal to be the perfect leader, the perfect teammate, the perfect idol, 24/7. Juggling 127 activities, U activities, and his solo projects is no easy feat. The reputation of their group sits on his shoulders, and even though he is fully capable, he’s only human too. And a human, a wonderfully amazing, caring, sensitive, human such as Taeyong, can only deal with so much stress. Taeyong is the type of person to recharge by himself, but if he thinks doing work is a substitute for actual downtime, he’s sorely mistaken.

“Tell me the truth,” Ten implores, voice saccharine sweet, “Do you like hanging out with me?” 

“Yes, of course.” Taeyong answers right after. 

“Then I have a proposition for you. You go back to the dorm right after this call and on Saturday I’ll treat you to a day of relaxation and fun.” 

This time, Taeyong’s answer doesn’t come readily. “I don’t know… I would, but there’s still so much I need to do.”

He had a feeling Taeyong would say something like that. That’s not an issue though, this conversation is only ending one way and it’s certainly not like that. He had hoped he wouldn’t need to do this, but Taeyong leaves him no choice. 

“Please? If not for you for me? I’m worried about you and even one day away from work will help put my fears to ease.” It’s too easy to use Taeyong’s people-pleasing nature to get what you want. If that somehow doesn’t convince him, Ten doesn’t know what else to do. He could storm their dorm and drag Taeyong out with him against his will, but that’s the last resort option and also possibly kidnapping so he’d rather not take that route. 

Fortunately, Taeyong takes to his words like a duck in water, even though he releases a low sigh before relenting. “Okay, it’s a deal. I’ll go back after this call.” He sounds put out, but there’s also no denying the tired relief in his voice as well. 

“Great! I have everything planned out already, all you have to do is show up.” 

There’s a chuckle over the line. “You already have everything planned? Did you know I was going to agree with this beforehand?” 

“Maybe I did. You can’t say no to me hyung, I’m irresistible.” 

“You have no idea…” 

Did he hear that right? Taeyong mumbled something but it was so low register the microphone didn’t pick it up well. 

“Can you repeat that louder? I don’t think I heard correctly.” 

“W-What do you mean, I didn’t say anything.” 

“Oh, I thought I heard something. Anyway, back to Saturday. We’re going to be out in public a lot, so please try and wear something inconspicuous.” Ten grins to himself and teasingly adds, “I know that may be hard for you, but I’m sure you must have something that’s not Versace or Gucci.”

“I know, I know, and I do, believe it or not,” Taeyong replies, a playful edge to his voice to match Ten’s. Ten bites his lip to stop himself from continuing, pushing his luck with flirting and saying something he will probably regret. It’s so hard not to when it seems like Taeyong’s just as willing to dance as he is. Nevertheless, he holds back.

“Just being sure. Thank you for all of your hard work, but we’d all rather have a well-rested leader than a sleep-deprived one. Have a nice night,” Ten smiles, hoping the entirety of the affection in his voice transfers over to Taeyong. “Sleep well.”

“Goodnight Tennie. I will.” 

.

.

.

Pulling his black baseball cap lower onto his head, Ten waits for Taeyong as the morning sun creeps upwards into the sky. The first spot he’s decided on is a cafe, the quaint atmosphere and cuisine providing the refreshing start to the day Taeyong needs. Hopefully he doesn’t get lost from the directions he had given him earlier, they weren’t the most direct or easy to follow. It’s not just any old cafe, Ten made sure to pick this one due to its location a ways away from their dorms, minimizing the chances they’d run into another one of their friends. 

As he waits for Taeyong, Ten’s mind unwillingly recalls the memory of how his previous attempt turned out, kind of like how your brain brings up embarrassing moments of your childhood when you’re trying to go to bed. It was all going good until he tried to initiate the second part of his plan. Well, that’s going to be different today. He’s not going to get overwhelmed or do anything to screw it up, he’s going to be chill and not worry about fixing anything that could go wrong. That’s for the Dreamies to deal with. It is kind of unnerving that he didn’t go over the plan with them beforehand, let alone see them. They must be taking their stalking job seriously.

“I’ve never heard of this place.” Taeyong’s voice resounds right next to him. Ten turns and gives him a quick once-over; he’s wearing a bucket hat, not surprising, that seems to be a staple in his public attire. Thankfully, Taeyong seems to have taken his words to heart as the rest of his clothing consists of plain black and white, nothing flashy. 

“And that’s kind of the point.” Ten opens the door for Taeyong with a flourish and bows, winking when he uprights himself. With an outstretched arm to the entryway, he gestures Taeyong forward. “I would rather not have fans sneaking pictures of us while we’re eating. Now, it's time for the best pastries you’ll have in your entire life, or so I’ve been told.” 

Taeyong takes the lead with a smile and they enter into the shop. The smell of freshly ground coffee and a mix of cinnamon and other spices hits them immediately. Given the location, there aren’t many other patrons even though it’s the morning, and those that are there raise their heads out of instinct upon hearing the door open, but don’t pay them any mind afterwards. 

The menu, like the cafe itself, isn’t very big, but apparently what they do have is better than most other places in Seoul. They order their drinks and some pastries— or in Taeyong’s case— a lot of pastries, and then look for a place to sit.

Weighing their options for the best spot for privacy’s sake, Ten decides on a little section off from the main area, half of the seating against the wall and blocked by a metal shelf filled with random hipster-esque decorations and succulents. 

Ten takes the seat against the wall, dropping with a happy grin plastered on his face. “Now we just wait for them to call our order.”

“Sounds good.” Just as Taeyong is about to sit down, his phone rings. He takes one look at the screen and sighs. When he looks back up, his eyes are apologetic. “I have to take this. I’ll try and make it quick.” 

“That’s okay, take your time.” 

Taeyong flashes him a brief smile before moving to the back towards the restrooms, dragging his hat off his head and answering the call with a whiny, “What do you want?” 

Left to his own devices, Ten absentmindedly swings his legs underneath the table as he examines the cafe’s decor. He’s pretty sure a stupidly wide smile is stretched across his face, but he can’t help it, it just feels so perfect right now, what could go wrong? 

“Ten?” 

He jinxed that faster than he thought. 

Ten would know that English anywhere. Out of every place in the city, why’s he have to be here?

They’re at a hole-in-the-wall cafe… with some of the best coffee and dessert around… and he learned about this place from… 

He wants to hit himself. 

For a second, Ten debates crawling underneath the table to hide, but his pride stops him from stooping that low, literally. Ultimately, he decides to hunch further down into the seat and downturns his head, trying to make himself smaller (than he already is lol) to disappear. Maybe if he ignores him he’ll go away. 

“Ten! That’s you, right? It’s me, Johnny!” 

Or not. 

Johnny appears with a carefree grin, tall frame moving around the shelf. Behind him, another familiar face appears, looking even more short compared to Johnny’s stature. 

Dully, Ten stares at the table as Johnny and Taeil stand next to him. “Yo Johnny, Taeil hyung.” 

“Bro, you sound like you really need some coffee in your system.” Johnny says it jokingly, but in actuality it looks like he really is going to need that coffee to have enough energy to get through this. 

“Are you meeting up with someone?” Taeil questions curiously, taking in his strange seating arrangement. 

The “only a tad bit guilty” lie of “no” is fresh in Ten’s throat but right as he’s about to speak, the bathroom door opens and Taeyong steps out. He pockets his phone and looks up, features lighting up from impassive to delighted when he sees the two at their table. 

“What a surprise to see you guys!” 

Taeyong strides over and cheerfully hugs them both before stepping back and asking, “Have you eaten yet? You can sit here with us if you’d like.” 

It is only natural to extend an invitation to friends, but did Taeyong really have to? Ten’s wide-eyed, tight-lipped look containing all of his opposition to that idea flies completely over Taeyong’s head as all he does is innocently smile back and go over to an empty table for extra chairs. 

“Here you go, Ilie hyung.”

Taeil takes the empty spot next to Taeyong, leaving Johnny next to Ten. 

Johnny props his elbows on the table. “What makes today the lucky day y’all decided to come here?”

“Ten wanted to show me this place,” Taeyong explains and looks over at him with an eager smile, “He said the cakes are exceptional.”

“You’ll go anywhere if there’s food involved, won’t you?”

“That’s reaching,” Taeyong chuckles, lowering in his chair with embarrassment when Taeil pokes his heated cheeks, but doesn’t deny it. 

“If you and Taeyong were planning to come here, you should have told me, we all could have come together,” Johnny whispers in English and nudges Ten, who cracks a pained grin. How does one go about explaining that they never told their friends because their presences were never wanted in the first place? Is there even a good way to do that? 

“About that, I kind of wanted to do this with just Taeyong… not you. Or anyone else. No offense though.” Adding the “no offense” is like putting a bandaid on a stab wound but might as well give it a shot. 

Johnny’s eyebrows seem to rise to his hairline and he leans back against the frame of the chair, contemplative. “Oh, so you’ll go with him and not the person who told you about this place?”

Ten presses his lips together. “Yeah, pretty much.” 

“Interesting.” If Johnny’s offended, he doesn’t show it. In fact, the complete  _ lack  _ of offense on his face is quite unnerving. Instead of letting it outwardly affect him, Ten turns away and tries to be a respectful listener as Taeil recalls a riveting tale involving the tenth floor of the 127 dorm, but can’t shake the feel of Johnny’s eyes on him. 

“So then the cockroach wouldn't move off of the bathroom ceiling. Yuta drew the short end of the stick and had to kill it. He was standing on the toilet about to kill it but then it suddenly flew right at him. He freaked out and started to fall and Jaehyun was right behind him with a hand braced against the wall. His weight pushed against Jaehyun’s and that’s the story behind why there was a massive hole in the bathroom.” Taeil finishes with a grin while Taeyong concernedly stares at him. 

The ring of a countertop bell and shout of his name signifies that their food is ready. Ten shoots up out of his chair. “I’ll go get the food.” 

Beside him, the screech of chair legs sliding against wood has his worst fears coming alive as Johnny sidles up to him with a casual, “I’ll come with.”

Taeil nods up at them before excitedly turning back to Taeyong. “Did we tell you guys about the time Mark put too much dish soap into the dishwasher…” 

Ten leaves towards the counter and thus follows the quietest, most awkward walk he’s had Johnny in their years since knowing each other. Once they reach the bar, to his displeasure, the barista politely informs them that they accidentally made a wrong drink, so it'll be just a minute more of waiting.

He already knows what’s going to happen. Might as well bite the bullet. “I know you want to tell me something. Just spit it out.” 

“So…” The taller of the two drums his fingers against the counter, tone conversational. He glances around the room before meeting Ten’s increasingly anxious gaze. “Ya like Taeyong.” 

Ten pales, color draining from his face at an impressive speed as he stares in horror at Johnny, who looks pretty amused at the whole thing. “Took you long enough to finally do something about it.”

Johnny holds up a hand as Ten opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water, unable to get even a squeak out. “I’ve known you since the beginning of our careers, I know how normal Ten acts around people versus how Ten with a crush acts around someone he likes.” Johnny doesn’t say it, but the unspoken “duh” his tone signifies that maybe Ten wasn’t being as careful as he thought he was. 

Johnny is only able to get out a small “oh shit” before Ten’s initial shock dissolves into tangible vexation.

“You never approached me before about knowing this!” Ten hisses, loud enough to get his frustration across but not enough to draw any attention to himself. 

With a dramatic groan, Johnny throws out both hands and leans forward. “Because  _ you _ never brought it up with me! I didn’t think you were ready or something.”

“Why didn’t you keep that thought, I wasn’t ready.” Ten crosses his arms and tilts his chin upwards with narrowed eyes. “So forget about it.” 

“I can’t just forget about it.”

“I can help you with that,” Ten murmurs, eying a particularly heavy looking cookie jar a few feet away. 

“Hey,” Johnny intones with a cautious sweep of his words and pushes the potential weapon out of Ten’s reach. “We are not going there.” 

“C’mon, it’ll only hurt for, like, a second.”

“That literally makes no difference whatsoever. Man, other peoples’ friends give them compliments, mine threatens to murder me.” 

“I wouldn’t  _ murder  _ you, I’m not a psychopath. At worst it would be a concussion.”

They both shut up when the barista arrives with their orders, aiming twin megawatt smiles at her that probably makes her think they’re weirdos if the awkward smile they get in return is anything to go by. As soon as the girl turns her back to them, Ten drops the overly polite getup, face dropping into a blank stare. 

“What are you going to do then.” In the back of his mind, he knows that Johnny will probably not tell Taeyong or anyone else, but this subject matter is so delicate he can’t stop the tendrils of doubt from creeping into his steely voice. 

“Don’t sound so scared, I’m not going to tell him. Even though we’re like best friends too, obviously I’ve kept it under wraps for this long.” Johnny picks up the food trays and they start to walk back, side-by-side. When Johnny speaks again, Ten sighs at the hint of hurt in his voice. “What I kind of want to know is why you didn’t tell me sooner.”

And that’s what he was hoping he wouldn’t ask. Ten looks down at his shoes to avoid seeing Johnny’s overly dramatic sad eyes. “Stop making me feel guilty. I’m sorry, you’re my best friend and I trust you so much, don’t think I don’t. I would’ve told you if this was any other crush.” 

“But…” Ten can practically hear the smile in Johnny’s tone.

“This is… he’s…” Ten exhales, uncharacteristically clumsy with his words, “It’s not just any other crush, it’s Taeyong, and I just really like him. I don’t want to mess up anything and that includes word of it spreading through our friend group.”

It is kind of hypocritical that he’s emphasizing all this talk about secrecy and slip-ups when he randomly disclosed this information —pretty willingly at that too— to most of the Dreamies during a late night/early morning food session… Really though, it’s not his fault, there’s just something about those hours that really crumbles a person’s inhibitions. 

“Bro, I understand, I’m not angry or anything but if you had told me sooner I could have been helping you this entire time.” Johnny keeps his head forward, but Ten can still see the upturn of his lips from his position. “I’m going to do what any best friend would do and be your wingman.” 

Ten squints up at Johnny with an open-mouth grimace as the latter finally looks at him, searching his face for any signs that he’s joking, dread setting in when there’s none to be found. While the chance to conspire with Johnny is usually a no brainer for him, this is not one of those times. 

“I’m sure you would be a great wingman, but I’m going to pass for now.” 

“Trust me, I did this a lot back in high school. I helped many of my friends hook up.”

Ten scowls. “This isn’t a high school fling, this is something much more delicate and important. Take your food to-go and tell Taeyong you and Taeil hyung have somewhere else to be.” 

“Nope, this is what you get when you make me your best friend. Hey look, Taeyong‘s looking at us. Quick, pretend to giggle cutely or something.” 

_ “Johnny I’m going to kill you.”  _

“That doesn’t sound cute,” Johnny whispers before flashing him a shit-eating grin. “Just leave it to me.” 

“No! No, don’t you— Taeyong! We got the goods!” Ten transitions from murderous intent to cheerful pep as they return into the hearing range of the others, leaving Johnny to return to his seat across from Taeyong. “Johnny’s being a  _ good friend _ and is gonna set  _ everything _ out for us.” 

Ten purposefully bashes his lashes extra hard when Johnny sends an outrageous look his way but starts removing their drinks and desserts anyway. Taeil gazes at the table with awe when everything’s laid out, taking out his phone and saving a pic. “Did you buy one of everything from the pastry case because that’s a lot of sugar.” 

“Isn’t it great?” Taeyong wastes no time grabbing the nearest plate and digging in. At the rate he’s shoveling food into his mouth one would think he hasn’t eaten good food in a while. A surge of affection fills Ten’s chest as Taeyong looks at him with happy, upturned eyes. Without needing to think about it, Ten smiles and parts his lips to say—

“Taeyong, isn’t Ten looking awfully good today?” 

Taeyong chokes on his bite of cake and the fastest blush Ten’s ever seen covers his entire face as he stares at Johnny’s smirking face. “W-What?” 

The tiny sliver of hope Ten had for Johnny’s plan, that maybe his wingmanning skills would actually prove to be helpful, shrivels up and dies with that one sentence. Johnny ignores Ten’s warning growl and takes a measured sip of his coffee. “I mean, he’s normally attractive, right?” 

Taeyong’s only response is to swallow hard.

“But like,” Johnny motions towards Ten like he’s showcasing him, hands splayed out, “Something about him right now is really killing it. The piercings, his hat, just him overall… straight fire. Wouldn’t you agree?” 

“I agree,” Taeil pipes up over the rim of his hot cocoa when Taeyong doesn’t answer, expression quickly morphing into his blank one Ten notices he usually wears when he’s retreating into his mind. Given that they’re talking about him looking good it does kind of sting that Taeyong seems to not want to answer, but then again maybe it’s because Johnny’s putting him on the spot like a detective shoving a lamp directly into the suspect’s eyes during an interrogation. 

Johnny nods appreciatively. “Thank you Ilie. Now that I think about it, Ten, you have a lot of good qualities. You’re funny, sociable, artistic, hardworking, thoughtful, and so much more. Now Yong, don’t you think it’s crazy no one has swept our one and only main dancer off of his feet by now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I think it is,” Johnny says and directs a powerful look to Taeyong. There’s a low edge to his voice, purposeful in a way that may not be explicitly understood to anyone but Ten. “Somebody’s going to make a move soon, won’t they?”

Taeyong holds Johnny’s gaze, tongue pressed against the wall of his cheek. His eyes flicker to the dessert in front of him and stay there, unblinking. 

“Yeah. They probably will.”

“Johnny. Suh. What. Is. This?” Ten asks in English, thinly veiled venom underneath an angelic smile, each word accented with a dig of his heel into Johnny’s foot. He hasn’t had much opportunity to see what true wingmanning is during his teenage years, but he’s pretty sure this isn’t it. Johnny hides his wince with an easygoing grin, swirling his coffee around as he turns to a fuming Ten. 

“Could you cut that out, these are expensive. And what do you think I’m doing, I’m wingmanning for you,” Johnny exclaims, also in English. “I’m hyping you up.” 

Ten steals a glance at Taeyong, slightly relaxing when he sees that the latter is back to blissfully eating cake and socializing with Taeil. “You’re just making him uncomfortable and that seems pretty fucking counterproductive.”

“Naw, that means it’s working,” Johnny scoffs, “I’m using fear tactics, you know? Like ‘better shoot your shot before someone else does.’ Works mostly every time.”

“I wouldn’t care even if it worked every time. I don’t like how this is going so stop it.” Ten raises a hand to swat his arm but stops when a cafe employee walks up to their table. 

“Excuse me, but is there anyone named Ten here?”

Ten quickly lowers his hand. “I’m Ten.” Taeil raises an eyebrow to which Ten replies with a shrug, just as lost as he is. 

“Could you follow me please?” 

Ten gets up, but not before throwing Johnny one last warning glare, and dutifully trails the barista until they reach the counter where a shady figure waits. 

“This man asked to see you, if this is anything fishy please take it out back,” the employee states with a bow before leaving Ten with the stranger.

Ten shifts on the balls of his feet since there’s really nothing better to do as he stares at the mysterious man, no clue whatsoever as to who he is. He’s wearing sunglasses inside a building, a low bucket hat, and a large face mask. Now that he looks at him, he kind of looks too young to be a man, a teenager is more like it. Wait a second…

“Jisungie?” Right as the words leave his mouth, the stranger lowers his mask and slips off his sunglasses, revealing their maknae. 

“Ten hyung,” Jisung greets with a shy smile and wave. “I’ve been sent to help you.” 

So the Dreamies are watching him. They’re a little too late though, Johnny and Taeil already crashed the majority of this visit. Ten says as much to the younger boy, who sheepishly wrings his hand together. 

“Yeah, sorry about that. We saw you and Johnny at the counter through the window, and we had a plan formed, but then we got questioned by a cop for  _ suspicious loitering.  _ It’s all good now. Here’s the plan,” Jisung starts, giving Ten no time to linger on the cop part of his story, “I’m going to call Taeil hyung and get them to come outside. You come too to see when the coast is clear for you guys to do whatever you have planned next.”

“What are you planning on doing?” Ten asks but Jisung’s already replacing his mask and sunglasses, and with a thumbs up, he exits the cafe.

Ten walks back to his table, no less confused than before, and shakes his head to the others’ various expressions of interest. “They had the wrong person?” 

“There’s more people named Ten than I figured there were,” Taeil muses before his phone springs to life with Jisung’s caller ID on the screen. He accepts the call and immediately his demeanor gains a serious air, eyebrows lowering as he frowns.

“Jisung? What’s wrong?” There’s low talking from the other end, and with each passing second Taeil’s expression becomes more worried. “You all went out… You got locked outside… Your phone is going to die? Okay, stay where you are, I’ll be there soon.” 

Taeil ends the call and immediately Taeyong is on him, fingers digging into his arm as he asks, “What about Jisung and being locked out and something wrong?” 

“Jisung said he and the others are locked outside of their dorm. They forgot to bring their wallets with their keycards and their phones, except for Jisung, but his is about to die. They’re worried about getting harassed.” 

“I’m going, tell me where they are,” Taeyong demands just as Johnny mutters, “What kind of teenagers these days don’t bring their phone?”, but Taeil shakes his head. “Believe it or not, he specifically asked for me and Johnny. I didn’t want to question it, he sounded pretty distressed.” 

As Taeyong sputters, Taeil looks at Johnny, who sighs and heaves himself up. “Yeah, lets go get em.” 

Ten rises along with the two. “I’ll see you two out.” At Johnny’s questioning look, he hastily adds, “I’m worried about the Dreamies, if they call again I want to know.” 

“Taeyong, it’ll be fine, just…” Ten looks about the table before picking a random plate and shoving it towards a worried-looking Taeyong. “Eat this.”

Ten doesn’t wait to see if he actually follows his instructions, too busy calming his nerves as he and the two others fast walk to the exit. Why he’s so nervous… it’s not like he doesn’t trust the Dreamies… but… he doesn’t trust the Dreamies. 

He leaves the coffee shop and immediately gets pulled to the side as Johnny and Taeil walk further away. Ten manages to hold back a punch to the face when he looks down to see Renjun’s familiar eyes peeking out from underneath a pair of sunglasses. 

“I’d stay back, wouldn’t want to get surrounded.” 

“Surrounded?” Ten turns his attention back to his friends just as Johnny and Taeil freeze out in the open, a group of high school girls directly in their path.

They wouldn’t. 

A little ways away, Ten sees Jisung crouched behind a trash can, who nods once he makes eye contact with Renjun. In an altered voice, pitched a lot higher than normal and doing a really bad impersonation of a girl’s, he squeals, “Oh my god! Is that  _ Johnny and Taeil  _ from the popular worldwide Seoul-based Kpop boy band NCT 127!?”

They apparently would.

The group of girls whisper and giggle amongst themselves, and their glances towards the two grow increasingly more frequent as Johnny and Taeil try to start walking away without showing their faces. 

From behind his trash can, Jisung adds, “Johnny and Taeil whose signatures sell for  _ bank _ to their fans? Wow, only an idiot would pass up an opportunity to meet them and get their autographs!”

That does the trick as the girls collectively rush forward like paparazzi and surrounds them in no time, paper and markers held high. Through the excited jumble of girly screams and chatter, he can make out Johnny and Taeil’s desperate pleas to get them to back off. 

“One at a time! Stop shoving each other!” 

“We’re kind of in a hurry so why don’t we sign one paper and you all share… no? Okay, that’s a definite no.” 

Jisung sneakily makes his way to Ten and Renjun, head held high. The two high five before Jisung turns to Ten with a proud smile. “That worked pretty well right?” 

“You probably could have told them your locked out story and left it at that rather than bombarding them with high schoolers. They would have left the cafe either way.”

“We could have, but this way is a lot more fun.” 

Ten stares at the two, lips pursed. “If anyone ever asks why you all are like this, I have nothing to do with it. I’m a good, responsible hyung.” 

“Pfffff, yeah, sure you are.” 

“I am! You guys are just a lot, even for me.” 

“Just get back in there to your bubu—” 

_ “Bubu—” _

“—and be all disgusting and lovey-dovey. If you wanna leave though, go out the back.” With that, Renjun and Jisung move into the crowds of people and disappear, probably to regroup with the others.

With one last fleeting glance towards his friends, (they’ll be fine, right?) Ten slips back into the cafe and hurriedly returns to Taeyong, who pauses his eating, cheeks full with pastry and eyes full with questions. 

“Change of plans, we’re leaving. The people here are getting a bit too ambitious for my liking.” 

Taeyong finishes his dessert and looks towards the front of the building. “Where’s Johnny and Taeil?” 

Ten wants to say  _ “you really don’t want to know”  _ but he settles for, “They’re... occupied at the moment with something important but they told me to tell you their goodbyes.” 

“...”

“Yong,” Ten sighs and tugs on the hem of Taeyong’s shirt when he’s met with resistance as Taeyong hesitates, looking down at the rest of the desserts with blatant longing. “I promise I’ll buy you more later.”

Taeyong grabs one last dessert before following him out the back door. They exit out into an empty alleyway and make their way back onto the main street. Thankfully, the sounds of Johnny and Taeil being swarmed don’t reach this area of the city. Ten closes his eyes and takes a deep, calming breath and when he opens them to stare right into Taeyong’s curious ones, he’s ready for round two. 

“You know, my wardrobe has been looking a little sad lately,” Ten says thoughtfully, letting his words hang in the air to give Taeyong some time to digest them. The moment Taeyong realizes just what he implied is comically clear— his lips part with a small gasp and his big eyes shine with hope. Ten grins, unable to keep his glee at bay as Taeyong practically vibrates in place, waiting for him to say the words he so desperately wants to hear. “Why don’t we take a little stroll in Myeong-dong?”

Somehow, Taeyong vibrates even faster —if that’s even possible— and hopefully he doesn’t tire himself out before they even get there. Ten places his hands on his hips and gives Taeyong a questioning glance. “You want to go?” 

The answer is so painfully obvious but he’s having fun with this. 

“Are you okay with that? I’m down for whatever, we don’t have to go to Myeong-dong,” Taeyong asks after he somewhat manages to reign in his emotions, trying to seem indifferent but failing at a spectacularly bad level. Ten could swoon right now, of course Taeyong would put his feelings aside to make sure he was okay with it first.

“I’m okay with it, I suggested it,” Ten replies, almost letting loose a loud laugh at the way Taeyong visibly perks up again. 

“Okay! I have so many places I want to show you. I’ve been looking at a few bags and shirts… there’s this new line of jewelry too, I think you’d really like it, there’s some really cool earring designs,” Taeyong says, hands animatedly moving about while Ten stays silent, content to let him have his moment. When he finishes his mini speech, Ten waits a second more to make sure he’s done before speaking up.

“I do love earrings. Are you ready then?” 

Taeyong grins at him, a beautiful sight, and nods once. With an answering smirk, Ten lifts a brow and juts a thumb towards the subway entrance. 

“What are we waiting for? Let's go.” 

.

.

.

“The design is so unique,” Taeyong comments appraisingly as he holds up a multicolored bucket hat. He removes the hat on his head and puts the new one on his head, turning every which way in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror. “It’s a limited edition too.”

They’d made their way over to the hub of Myeong-dong after a brief train ride. Ten had spotted the Dreamies in the same train car as them near one end, sunglasses and face masks making them quite the odd sight. However, once he and Taeyong had exited the station, like fashionable ninjas, they disappeared. Taeyong had practically dragged him into one of the many designer stores there and it wasn’t long before he found something. 

“It looks good on you,” Ten supplies with a slight nod; it is a fashionable hat even though he’d never buy it for himself, it’s not really his style. He’s more of a solid color/black kind of guy. “How much is it?” 

Given that he’s also an idol that splurges on high end luxuries for most of his things, Ten really just wants to know out of basal curiosity, money is hardly an issue for them. He’s also pretty sure that knowing the price will do little to disparage Taeyong’s obvious interest in it. 

Taeyong makes a passive noise, entirely engrossed in what’s probably the latest addition to his bucket hat collection. He’s totally going to get it. “It’s a decent price.” 

“You call that decent,” Ten laughs when Taeyong hands him the hat, more zeros tacked onto the price than most would find reasonable. “Even by our standards, I don’t think ‘decent’ is the word I’d use. More like _ , _ it’s expensive as hell but doable due to our above average income.”

“It’s fine, it’s not like this’ll burn a big hole in my wallet,” Taeyong reassures him while casually flexing on the general public at the same time. He tucks the hat underneath one arm and takes a step towards some clothing racks. “I’m gonna go take a look at some shirts, wanna come?” 

Ten points towards a glistening glass counter on the other side of the store. “I think I want to check out some perfume we passed, then I’ll join you.” 

“Okay, I’ll be to the back, near that display of sweatshirts.” Taeyong takes his leave to venture further into the store while Ten moves to the perfume counter near the entrance. Glass bottles of various colors, sizes, and shapes gleam and dazzle underneath the white lights. Ten takes his time choosing the ones that pique his interest, spraying a bit on the inside of his wrist to get the full profile of each scent. 

He’s lifting a particularly expensive bottle to his nose, sniffing lightly at the nozzle when a hand comes down on his shoulder, completely unannounced, scaring the shit and a small shriek out of him. He wanted to get a better idea about what the spicy combination of bergamot, jasmine, and rose smells like. 

Not really what it tastes like. 

“Shit! Ten, I didn’t know you had that up to your face!” 

_ “It’s in my mouth.”  _ For something that smells so good it tastes so fucking awful. Mark stands off to the side, allowing for much needed alone time as Ten scrunches his face up in disgust and licks at his lips in vain to get rid of the perfume assaulting his taste buds. 

When the potent scent becomes just tolerable enough for him, Ten is able to recollect himself and notice that Mark is not alone. Yuta stands next to him, a sly smirk on his face as he asks, “So, are you going to get it?” 

“As much as I like jasmine, I think I’m going to pass on this one,” Ten coughs and quickly sets the offending bottle back with the others. Mark stands still and lets Ten do his usual cuddly greeting with him consisting of suffocating him in a loving hug. After, he acknowledges Yuta as the other nods his hello. 

“Ten, it’s rare to see you out without someone,” Yuta remarks, looking around the area for anyone they know. Ten successfully manages to not instinctively look back to see if Taeyong is in sight. 

“Well… you know.” Ten shrugs and leaves it at that ambiguous response. “What are you two doing out?”

“Chillin’. Got bored at the dorm and everyone else was busy so we decided to walk around and shop a little.” 

Taeyong’s overwhelming love of shopping has blinded him to forget a crucial fact: they  _ all  _ love shopping for expensive things. It’s the weekend too, so there’s not many things scheduled for any of them, meaning all of their members are practically free to do whatever, wherever. 

“If you’re alone, why don’t you come with us,” Yuta suggests, “We wouldn’t mind.” 

“Oh, well… thanks, but I wouldn’t want to intrude on your time together,” Ten replies, nervously keeping the deeper part of the store in his peripheral view.

“Nonsense, you’re cool.”

“Of course I am, but I was just about to lea—” The barest sight of Taeyong’s bucket hat has Ten changing his tune instantly as he guides them to the area just outside of the store. “Leave and go to another store.” 

For the sake of his plans to spend time with Taeyong, he’s got to ditch him, for now. It makes sense. Taeyong will be fine, he’s like a kid in a candy store right now. Ten rushes the other two into a random store and turns to their inquisitive faces. 

He’s gotten them away from Taeyong… now what. He hadn’t really thought about what to do at this point. 

“I actually wanted to check out that store, you know,” Yuta offhandedly remarks, putting his hands up in surrender when Ten aims a look at him. 

“I thought you wanted to hang out with me.”

“We could do that at any store.” 

They really want to make this hard for him, don’t they. 

The words are out of Ten’s mouth before he has any time to consider the consequences. “I wanted to be here because this is my favorite store and to show my love for you guys, I’ll buy you two anything you want, so—” Mark and Yuta’s eyes widen as Ten rambles on “—go on and let me love you.” 

“Woah, Ten you don’t have to do that.”

“Shut it Mark,” Yuta barks before turning with a grin and an outstretched fist, which Ten reciprocates, albeit a lot less enthusiastically. “Thanks man, I won’t waste your generosity.” 

“Right. My generosity.” 

As Yuta makes a beeline for the  _ expensive _ jackets, Mark lingers, gazing at him with his all-too-suspicious eyes. With an air of nonchalance, Ten cocks his head to the side and sets a hand on his hip, all while smiling deceptively innocent. “What is that look for? I’m being a nice person, Markie.”

“You’re only this nice if you have some ulterior motive.” 

“What are you talking about, I’m  _ always _ this nice, I just show it differently sometimes.” 

“Yeah but—”

Mark lets out a peal of laughter as Ten grabs him, grinning wide in faux offense. “Aren’t I the sweetest, coolest hyung? You know you want to say yes.” 

“Yeah, you’re one of the best. I guess I’m just being weird. So… you were serious about getting whatever we want?”

Ten slowly nods, hesitant at the tone of Mark’s inquiry. “Yes?”

“Nice, this is my favorite store,” Mark replies and pulls Ten along. “There’s a lot that I want.”

“Wait, I didn’t mean— Mark.”

The smirk on Mark’s face mirrors one of his own; Ten would be proud if it wasn’t directed at him. 

“But Ten, aren’t you being a nice person?”

And that’s how Ten finds himself sitting on the fitting room bench, dwarfed by a pile of clothes Mark and Yuta have selected to try on. He’s pretty sure half of the clothes they picked out they don’t even like, they’re just the most expensive things they could find. If it comes to it, he’s definitely going to give them a limit of 1 item only, his wallet can only take so much. The two have been trying on clothes for what feels like forever, and Ten can now say he understands when he sees boyfriends and husbands sprawled out on benches as their partners shop. When you’re not the one doing the shopping, this is pure torture. Unfortunately, he has to stay put until the Dreamies come and save him. 

“Hey Ten, what about this one?” Yuta opens his stall door to reveal a flashy outfit, strutting out into the area with a suave air about him. 

“It looks perfect on you, get it,” Ten deadpans as he looks on disinterestedly, hunched over with his chin resting in his palms. He doesn’t want to watch them put on clothes, he wants to gush over Taeyong putting on clothes. 

“You’ve said that about the past five I’ve tried on. Are you serious about this?” 

“Do you want my honest answer or the answer you want to hear.” 

Yuta sighs and poses a bit more in front of the triple floor-to-ceiling mirrors. “If you won’t give me an honest opinion on these I guess I’ll just have to keep on trying them on.” 

Ten follows Yuta’s back as he returns to his stall right next to Mark’s. In his peripheral vision, a body appears right in front of him without a word, which isn’t going to last soon given who it is. He just knows who it is. 

“So you were the chosen one, Hyuckie,” Ten mumbles to a quietly snickering Donghyuck. 

“Hyung, you look so miserable. It’s both very funny and very sad.”

“You tell me you could have done better. And here’s a question for you; why don’t you guys intercept them before they get to us? That would save a lot of time, effort, and sanity, mostly on my end.” 

Donghyuck tsks like the answer should be obvious. “We follow you guys closely, not the other members. Usually it’s too late to get to them by the time we see them too.” 

“Oh, and I wasn’t chosen, I volunteered,” he also corrects, lifting up a random shirt from the pile besides him with lazy curiosity. “Once I saw it was Mark hyung and Yuta hyung, I knew it was my time to shine.”

“I’m sure Mark’s going to be real happy to see you,” Ten drawls and stretches his back upwards, rolling the kinks out of his muscles as he sits back against the cushion. “If my memory serves me correctly, wasn’t he angry at you?”

Donghyuck replies with a smirk of his own. “Our relationship is complex. He’s just being dramatic and holding a grudge. We’re best friends, it’s a best friend sort of thing. That’s just how we work.”

“I see, I see.” Ten agrees, indulging in the younger’s interesting explanation. “So he’s not really  _ mad _ mad at you?”

Donghyuck’s expression falters and he shyly looks away, embarrassed. “Um, no. That doesn’t apply here. He’s legit mad at me and the others still.” 

“Why’d you say all that stuff about  _ it’s a best friend thing _ then?”

“Like I said, we are best friends,” Donghyuck reiterates, fervor returning in full force, “and that’s going to work in my favor. Yes, he’s mad but he for sure misses hanging out with me more than his frustration. He’ll be so relieved I’m finally not ignoring him, it’ll be easy to get him and Yuta hyung away from you and back to Taeyong hyung.” 

Personally, he would not have had that same backwards line of thinking, but then again Donghyuck is a pretty bright kid, and if he’s confident in his relationship with Mark, then who is he to question it. And at this point, he doesn’t really care what he does, he just wants to be free to return to Taeyong. 

Donghyuck takes a seat on the bench next to him and hands him the shirt. “Ten hyung, cover me with this I wanna surprise him.”

“Are you sure that’s smart?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun.”

Ten wants to argue that, no, Mark is probably not going to find that fun, but the creak of stall doors has him lifting up the shirt like a curtain regardless. 

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Ten says once Mark and Yuta both walk closer to display their next outfits, removing the shirt to uncover Donghyuck’s smiling face. Donghyuck smirks upon seeing Mark’s stunned expression, and does what anyone would do when suddenly appearing in front of their friend in a luxury brand store dressing room. That is to say, pointing double finger guns at him and winking. “Fancy seeing you here. Lookin’ sharp, dude.” 

The speed at which Mark flings the jacket in his hands to hit Donghyuck and subsequent rush back to and slam of his dressing room stall door is nothing short of Olympic gold. 

A low “broooo” resounds from behind the door. “What are you doing here!?”

Yuta walks over to Ten, leaning down until his mouth is next to his ear. “Mark’s still mad that Hyuck has been avoiding him. This is like their first major interaction in a while.” 

“Really, I didn’t know that at all.”

Donghyuck walks down the floor to Mark’s stall and puts his face against the door. “Nice to see you out-of-work too! Mark, I just wanna talk.”

“I’m not talking to you.”

“Don’t be like that… I miss hanging out with you.”

Donghyuck takes a few steps back and turns to look at Yuta and Ten, one hand up with the fingers splayed. He mouths down from five and as he reaches zero, the stall door opens and Mark begrudgingly walks out.

“Hyung,” Donghyuck whines and drapes himself over Mark’s shoulders, “We should go and hang out, it’s been forever.” 

“It has been forever, maybe it’s because you’ve been avoiding me.”

Donghyuck, undeterred, places his chin on Mark’s shoulder. “Let’s go eat.”

Mark incredulously gapes and points a finger to Yuta. “Dude, I’m with Yuta and Ten right now. We can go later.”

“Why don’t you love me?”

“What? I never said I don’t love you.”

“Then we’re going to eat. You too, Yuta hyung.”

“Yuta hyung,” Mark whines, dragging the eldest of them into the debate, “Tell Donghyuck we’re not going to get food right now because we’re shopping with Ten.” 

“Actually,” Ten cuts in, faking a yawn, “All this shopping has made me kind of tired. I’m going to go back to the dorm after this.”

“You haven’t even been shopping, you’ve just lounged on that bench this entire time.”

Ten smirks. “Sometimes not doing anything is more tiring than actually doing something.”

Yuta looks between the two pouting teens before biting his lip. “Well, if Ten is leaving… now that Hyuck mentioned it, food does sound good.” 

Mark sighs. “What? Ugh, fine. I guess we can go.” 

Bless Donghyuck and his natural ability to convince people to do what he wants. Mark scrunches his face up when Donghyuck stares at him with a sunny, victorious grin. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because~ I know you’re actually happy.”

“What?” 

“I know you’ve been sulking to the hyungs about how I’ve been avoiding you,” Donghyuck squeezes him tighter, “And there’s no mistaking the excitement in your heartbeat.”

Mark sputters at the accusation and turns his head away, cheeks reddening, but not fast enough for Donghyuck to miss it. “Awww, I love you too.”

As Donghyuck drags Mark back towards the bench, Yuta holds out a jacket for Ten to take. “Here’s my choice.” 

Ten dumbly stares at it before remembering why he’s here, and slowly takes it from him. Him and his stupid mouth. “I did say I was going to buy you guys something, didn’t I.” 

The theme for today seems to be deceit. And running away from your problems. Which is precisely what he’s going to do because, honestly, he’s not buying jack shit. 

“Bye Ten hyung,” Donghyuck says before winking, an exaggerated gesture that he’s lucky no one else but Ten sees. “You’re definitely not going to see Mark hyung or Yuta hyung again for the rest of the day. Not once. At all. Completely gone from your presence.” 

“Okay bye bye, nice seeing you all,” Ten quips a tad bit too rushed at the three as they depart. “Take your time eating, no need to hurry back or anything.”

“Wait, I didn’t give you what I want you to buy!” 

“I said  _ bye bye,  _ Mark. Love you!” 

He gives them a few minutes before deciding they’re probably far enough away. Ten hurries back to the first store that he left Taeyong in, praying that the other hasn’t noticed his absence. Surprisingly, but also not at the same time, Taeyong is still in the store, albeit with a lot more hats and clothing with him. 

“Wow, you’re actually still here.”

“I am, weren’t you here with me too?”

“I just meant you were… here specifically, like in this same area of the store,” Ten amends. Taeyong cocks his head to the side at his nervous display, but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he takes in Ten’s empty hands. “Did you not want anything?”

“Well,” Ten thinks back to his delightful perfume incident, “Not really, there wasn’t anything of my taste (get it) here.”

Taeyong frowns harder, eyebrows scrunched over his expressive eyes. Right now, the expression seems to be, unhappy. “Are you not having fun?”

“No, I am,” Ten tries to reassure him, but he can already tell Taeyong’s mind is made up. “This is supposed to be about you anyway, not me.”

“Can I take you somewhere? I know you said you had the day planned out already but if you have any leeway I’d like to.” 

This is unexpected. Ten blinks, slightly taken aback by Taeyong’s offer. He hadn’t scheduled every hour of the day, so there is quite a bit of time available to deviate from his plans, but the main question on his mind is what compelled Taeyong to ask this. It’s not like he’s unwelcome to the idea, quite the opposite, he’s just… curious. This doesn’t alter his overall plan though, his goal is to make Taeyong be at his happiest, and if this is what he wants then he’d be a fool to say no.

“Lead the way, Yong.”

Taeyong nods, a mix of nervous and excited energy. “It’s not too far from here. Just let me buy this stuff and we can go.” 

Taeyong ends up buying an impressive amount of clothes totaling to a just as impressive amount of money, before he leads Ten down stretches of the city he’s never really explored before. It isn’t until a storefront with twin giant windows allowing for the public to get a clear view of cats lounging on cat towers, that Ten knows what Taeyong had in mind.

“Is that a cat cafe?” 

Taeyong kind of nods his head, mouth open like he wants to say more but is waiting to see what his reaction is before fully committing. 

Ten beams at him in response, eyes crinkling upwards as he openly shows his glee. He loves animals and there are many times he finds himself missing his own pets back in Thailand. “I’ve never been to one but I’m excited!” 

“I’m glad,” Taeyong answers back, pleased with his positive answer, “I’ve wanted to ask you if you wanted to visit sometime with me, but I got sca— other stuff got in the way.” 

“Our schedules  _ are _ pretty booked most of the time. Especially yours.”

“Yeah,” Taeyong agrees softly, eyes downturned, “That’s what it was. Our schedules.”

“Hey, I’m here now, right?” Ten steps in front of Taeyong and places a comforting hand on his arm. “I understand how hard it can be to get away from responsibilities.”

Ten grins wide and pats his skin, eliciting a small smile from the other, before speed walking ahead to the windows, bouncing from foot-to-foot as he stares at the cats. “Now come on, you’re so slow!”

Taeyong shortly joins him and they enter the cat cafe. Luck is on his side for once; miraculously, it’s empty except for the college-aged employee behind the counter, who perks up once she sees their faces, specifically Taeyong’s. 

“Don’t worry, she won’t tell anyone we’re here or anything. She doesn’t particularly care about idols,” Taeyong whispers as they pick their way over to a couch along the wall, carefully avoiding stepping on the cats lounging on the floor or racing around as they play with each other.

“You come here a lot?” Ten questions, trying to hold in his squeal of excitement when a few cats start venturing over to their location to check them out.

“I come when I can, just to give them some play time and attention.” Taeyong holds out his hand to the approaching cats. A big tabby cat jumps up next to him and starts rubbing against his shirt, purrs rising in volume as he runs a hand down its back. “They’re all from shelters and some have come from tough situations, so it’s the least I can do.”

“Let me guess, you also volunteer at elementary schools and donate to student scholarships every month,” Ten jokes. At his feet comes a small meow; Ten looks down to see a Siamese cat cautiously sniffing him, blue eyes shining with curiosity. 

Taeyong releases a breathy giggle, hand stilling on the cat’s back as he brings his other to rub the back of his neck. “Good role models are really important to kids as they’re growing up and helping with tuition can really make a difference to families.” 

He cannot be serious.

“I was joking hyung.”

“I know.” The flush on Taeyong’s ears coupled with a sheepish upturn of his lips as he stares directly into his eyes Ten is telling enough. 

How does a person like Taeyong exist? Ten almost wants to ask if he builds houses for the homeless and works in soup kitchens as well, but Taeyong’s humble embarrassment prompts him to keep it to himself. 

“The cats are doing… cat things,” Ten eloquently points out, trying to change the topic. The Siamese cat at his feet meows again and raises on its hind legs to paw at his leg, much to his utter amazement. 

“That Siamese doesn’t warm up to people as quickly as he did with you, much less want pets from them,” Taeyong notes. “You’re like a cat magnet.”

Ten shrugs. “It’s funny because I’ve had dogs my whole life growing up, but cats really seem to like me.”

The Siamese starts to rub its head against his black jeans, purring lightly. “Aren’t you the loveliest little baby.” 

Ten gently wraps both hands around the cat’s midsection and lifts it up to his face, paws hanging cutely as it stares at him with huge eyes. The strain from the smile he’s sporting is easy to endure due to the surge of endorphins he feels as it lets him manhandle it, gently nuzzling his face against its own. When he pulls the Siamese away, it meows once and with a sandpaper tongue, licks the top of his nose. 

Quietly, Taeyong’s voice speaks up beside him. “Wow… cute…” 

“I know right?” Ten turns to Taeyong, who’s staring at him, transfixed. “Isn’t this cat the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?” 

“The cat?” Taeyong echoes, eyebrows scrunching together before he blinks rapidly, mouth parting with a small exclamation. “O-Oh yeah, the cat. It’s cute, really cute.”

The Siamese starts squirming in Ten’s hands, body twisting in the air as it tries to wiggle its way free. He relinquishes his hold, and with the grace of, well… a cat, it drops, and for its finishing blow, kneads into his lap with its little toe beans before curling into a ball after finding the perfect position. Ten can’t help the small coos that escape him, what can he say, he’s a sucker for these little cuties.

It’s decided, he is definitely going to get a cat like this sometime in the future. Even if there’s a clause in his contract that says he can’t have one, through legal or illegal means, he will get one into his dorm. 

A chuckle from Taeyong has him turning his attention from the ball of pureness in his lap to the ball of pureness next to him. “I think this is your second home,” Taeyong jokes, eyes curling upward at Ten’s confused expression. He points both index fingers up and lifts his hands to his head to mimic cat ears. “You’re such a cat, you’re basically purring.” 

“Tell me something I don’t know.” 

Taeyong starts to say something but then his eyes are flitting off to the side, looking past him towards the outside. “Jungwoo and Winwin are coming.” 

When he asked that rhetorical question, he really wasn’t expecting an answer, much less that.

“Wow! There’s so many kitties!”

Ten whips his head to the door just in time to see Jungwoo’s face appear in the entryway, lit up in wondrous awe. Next to him, Winwin looks around, face mask covering his mouth, which he promptly lowers when he spots Taeyong and Ten at their couch. He nudges Jungwoo and whispers something to him, pointing in their direction.

“Taeyong hyung! Ten hyung!” The two newcomers walk over and join them, Jungwoo sitting on the floor in front of the couch while Winwin takes a seat next to Ten. 

As Taeyong starts chatting with one of their latest members, Ten glances at the Chinese boy, who pets the Siamese in his lap. 

“I’m curious as to why you’re here, with Jungwoo no less.” 

“He was feeling stressed about his 127 debut coming up,” Winwin explains, “And I remember Taeyong hyung once brought me here when I was feeling down, and if it helped me, then it would probably help him.” 

Ten automatically smiles upon hearing his words; it seems that for almost every problem one of them faces, Taeyong is there to swoop in and give it his all to fix it. He really is the best leader any of them could have asked for. 

“I’m so proud, our adorable Sichengie, that’s so considerate of you.” Winwin blanches at Ten’s praise and shakes his head. “You’re embarrassing.”

“You find that embarrassing?” Ten asks, Cheshire grin splitting across his face as he adds, “Our little chick, Sichengie, China’s graceful prince, Sichengie, fairy-eared—”

Ten’s next words break off into laughter as he leans his body into Taeyong and away from a blushing Winwin’s attempt to shove him. 

“What’s going on,” Taeyong inquires, big eyes shining with mirth.

Winwin points to Ten with a grin. “Ten’s being weird.”

“I’m being myself, I don’t care if it’s crazy,” Ten laughs, sticking his tongue out when Winwin snorts. He’s happy, and it’s that along with the combination of him being surrounded by friends and cats, that makes him say and do things. Questionable… risqué things. He grabs onto Taeyong’s arm and pouts. “You don’t think I’m weird, do you?”

“You? Weird? Not at all.” 

“That’s right. Yong, you’re so nice to me, unlike Sicheng.”

“Don’t make me the villain!”

Taeyong chuckles, raising his eyebrow as Ten grins mischievously up at him. “Tennie, you shouldn’t tease your dongsaengs too much.” 

“Want me to tease you then,  _ hyung?” _ Ten challenges, biting his lip as he subconsciously inches forward, hand trailing a devilish path upwards along Taeyong’s arm. Taeyong sharply inhales through his nose, his whole body going rigid in an instant. 

“You guys are like a couple,” Jungwoo giggles, casually throwing that out into the air as he plays with a cat on the floor.

Ten rips himself away from Taeyong. His movement jostles the resting Siamese, who indignantly meows its annoyance and leaps off of his lap to the floor below. “What? What makes you think that.” 

“You guys are really cute with each other, and flirty,” Jungwoo says innocently, “it’s like… what’s it called… oh, relationship goals. I learned that phrase from Johnny.” 

“We aren’t in a relationship.”

“You guys could be.” A scandalous gasp escapes his lips and Jungwoo turns to Winwin. “Hyung, what if they’ve been flirting with each other this entire time and they’re in a pre-relationship.”

Silence, except for the occasional meow. Ten really hopes the girl at the counter is not listening in to their conversation, that would create a whole new mess he’d rather avoid. 

“Your faces! I’m just joking,” Jungwoo continues, blissfully unaware of the weight his words hold to Ten’s fragile sanity, “That would be  _ so _ crazy though.” 

Ten dares a quick glance at Taeyong, unable to help his curiosity as to what his reaction to Jungwoo’s implication is. There’s no disgust or major shock present on his face, nothing really, Taeyong has his poker face on, gaze focused on a point in space in front of him. At this point Ten would be fine with any clear emotion, negative ones included; it would give him a straight answer at least.

Winwin, much to Ten’s paranoia, looks contemplative, glancing between him and Taeyong with a keen eye. Honestly, it’s getting really hard to redirect their suspicions, he’s running out of ideas. Thankfully, the ring of the doorbell signifies for once that he doesn’t have to.

“Woah! Four of my hyungs in the same place? What a lucky coincidence.”

Taeyong snaps out of his reverie with a surprised, “Chenle?” 

“Hey Taeyong hyung! Before you ask, Johnny hyung and Taeil hyung came to our rescue this morning, so we are all a-okay.”

“Where are the others? Who brought you here?”

“So I heard through the grapevine,” Chenle says as he walks over the older members and ignores Taeyong, “that Sicheng gege was going to bring Jungwoo gege here because he was feeling nervous. And I thought that sounded like a sweet idea. The cat cafe I mean. Basically I just wanted to pet some cats.” 

Winwin sighs. “At least you’re honest.”

Chenle plops down next to Jungwoo and for a short while, they all just hang out, chatting with each other and playing with the cats. It’s tranquil, so much so that Ten almost forgets why Chenle is here in the first place until he suddenly leaps up and proclaims, “this is getting too tame, we need to spice it up a bit. I know just the thing we can use.”

Winwin looks at him, confused. “Cat cafes are supposed to be relaxing though.” 

“Jungwoo gege and Sicheng gege, come sit over here!” Chenle moves over to other wall, designating an area next to a cluster of cat towers and cardboard boxes. The two do as they’re told while Ten stays put with Taeyong as onlookers. Once Chenle determines they’re in the right positions, he moves to the counter, and after having a few words with the employee, is handed a green bag that crunches as he grabs it.

Ten’s trying to figure out what could possibly be in it when he hears a small sound of exclamation from Taeyong, followed by, “Does he know how much to use?”

“What is it?” 

“Catnip.”

“Isn’t that like the cat equivalent of weed?”

“Um…”

“Like, it makes them all high and stuff. Loopy, zoned out, relaxed.”

“I would have phrased it nicer but essentially you are right,” Taeyong murmurs, biting at a nail as he watches Chenle open the bag and take a long sniff. “Ah, I don’t know if letting him give that to the cats is a good idea.”

Ten  _ thinks  _ he knows what’s going to happen next, and if that’s the case, then Taeyong is exactly right: it’s not a good idea at all. 

“I trust him. It’ll be fine.”

He trusts him, just not for the reason Taeyong is talking about. What happens next is unsurprising. Chenle bounds towards Jungwoo and Winwin with the open bag held dangerously loose in his hand, measured steps made to look reckless. As he nears them, he skids a foot directly into the back of the other, tripping himself and causing him to tip forward.

“Oh no! Watch out!” Chenle shouts, feigning a distressed tone, and unceremoniously upends the bag of catnip directly onto Jungwoo and Winwin. 

Winwin shouts in surprise, blinking the dried leaves out of his eyelashes as Jungwoo shakes his head, dried leaves falling like confetti to the floor. They both stare up at Chenle in surprise as he continues to hold the bag upside down until every last piece falls out. “Whoops.” 

It’s like he released a drop of blood into a shark tank. Nearly every cat in the room turns towards the two, pupils dilating into pitch black holes. 

“Chenle, help get this off of us,” Winwin says slowly, eyes trained on the mob of cats slowly descending on their position. 

Chenle prances away with a guilt-free grin. “No can do gege.”

Taeyong starts to get up, but Ten claws his fingers around his bony wrist, keeping him in place. Upon seeing Taeyong’s quizzical look, Ten shakes his head once. “Don’t.” 

“H-Hi kitties,” Jungwoo says, palpable fear in his words, as cats start rubbing against him like crazy, jumping on his back and into his lap, rolling on the floor all around him. Winwin vainly tries to pick cats off of him, but for every cat he moves away, more take its spot. It’s… actually a very cute scene. 

Taeyong brings a hand to his temple and sighs. “I had a feeling this would happen.” He leaves to go talk to the girl, presumably to apologize for Chenle making a mess of the area and making nearly all of the cats in the store high off their asses, letting said catnip culprit come over to him and speak in private. 

“Lele, you know Taeyong’s going to make you stay and help clean up that catnip,” Ten remarks over the cacophony of meows, debating whether he should take a video or not for the group chat.

“I was going to do that anyway,” Chenle shrugs, “I knew what the consequences would be, but it’s all worth it, because it lets you escape. I’m like the guy in zombie movies who sacrifices himself for the group to live on.” 

“Your martyrdom won’t be in vain.” 

“It better not be,” Chenle says just as Taeyong starts to return. Ten quickly schools his features into a disappointed frown, and wags a reprimanding finger at the younger. “And that’s why you shouldn’t run with an open bag of anything. We expect you to help that nice girl over there with clean-up.” 

“Yes hyung.” 

“I spoke to him for you,” Ten says before Taeyong can get a word out, “and he is very regretful of his actions. He’ll stay and help them tidy up.” 

Taeyong looks at Chenle, who solemnly nods, slouched over and looking like he just kicked a puppy. “I am  _ deeply _ regretful of the distress I caused and will tackle my punishment accordingly.” 

That’s a little heavy on the acting from Chenle’s part but it gets the job done. 

“Well… it sounds like you covered all of what I was going to say, thank you Ten.” Taeyong exhales, eyes moving back to Jungwoo and Winwin. “Though I don’t think they’re in any distress now.” 

As the catnip has taken effect, a lot of the cats now sprawl out around the two, staring off into space or rolling around, meowing and purring. Jungwoo has three cats in his lap and looks like he’s in heaven, while Winwin holds a cat toy above a cluster of cats, giggling as they lazily swat at it. Ten, Taeyong, and Chenle move over to stand next to the entryway.

“So would you say this visit was successful, Woo?” Ten calls, smiling when Jungwoo vigorously nods, a happy flush to his cheeks. He turns to Taeyong and sighs. “I don’t think any of the cats will be interested in us for a while. Why don’t we let these three have their fun and we can go somewhere else.” 

“Yeah Taeyong hyung, you should leave with Ten hyung,” Chenle agrees. “The disappointment on your face because of my mistake is too much for me to bear.”

_ “Take it down a notch.” _

_ “Ohhh gotcha. _ What I meant to say is I just don’t want to look at your face anymore, that’s all, so you should leave now.” 

Does Chenle want to persuade Taeyong to go with him or does he want to ruin his self-esteem because right now Taeyong looks like he’s this close to crying.

_ “Okay,  _ thank you Chenle for your… input.” With a slight shove, Ten motions him to go sit with Jungwoo and Winwin. “Maybe catnip works on humans too because he was speaking nonsense. Your face is very nice, very different. Different in a good way I mean.” 

Taeyong brings a fist up to his mouth to stifle his laughter at Ten’s floundering. “I’m not offended, really. Your face is very nice too.” 

Ten doesn’t answer in favor of giving the others a parting goodbye because if he dwells on that sentence for too long he’ll lose the ability to think coherently. “Sichengie, Lele, bye bye. And Woo, you’re in good hands with the others. You’ll do great at your debut.” 

“Thanks hyung! Have fun on your date with Taeyong hyung!”

“This wasn’t a date!” Ten nearly fumbles every word in that sentence in his haste to correct him. He turns to Taeyong, a million different responses on his tongue depending on the degree of Taeyong’s uncomfortableness, and he’s a bit surprised to see Taeyong’s already looking at him. They lock eyes for a second, before Taeyong slides his attention back to Jungwoo. 

“We will, and remember to eat something before you go back,” Taeyong says calmly. 

“We were just hanging out!” 

Jungwoo nods to Taeyong. “We’ve already eaten, but thanks for your concern!” 

“That’s good. Bye guys.” Taeyong animatedly waves his goodbye and promptly walks out of the cafe. 

“This… wasn’t a date,” Ten weakly repeats, sounding like a broken record, and quickly follows Taeyong’s lead before he can be any more incriminating with himself. As he exits the cafe, he notices Taeyong off to the side of the building, standing underneath a tree and frantically texting someone. 

“Hey,” Taeyong startles and shoves his phone into his pants pocket as Ten joins him, “Who are you texting?”

“My… mom. Um, where should we go next?”

That’s one of the worst lies Ten’s ever heard in his entire life but hey, it’s not his place to probe further into Taeyong’s personal affairs. Who Taeyong’s texting shouldn’t be his main priority right now anyway.

He’s got one more place in mind. It’s a place where they can have true alone time together, a place where Ten’s sure that he’ll be able to confess and then they’ll kiss sweetly in the shade of a tree or something else just as romantic TV drama worthy. 

Taeyong takes his silence as a chance to speak up. “We could go—”

“Were you going to say the Han River? Wow, me too, we must be soulmates. Han River it is.”

Taeyong chuckles at Ten’s enthusiasm, before giving him a small smile and nod.“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Tennie.”

Since the river is only a few blocks away, they decide to go on foot rather than catch a ride. They walk towards the river at a leisurely pace, chatting at random intervals, quiet during others, just perfect for the two of them. Somewhere along the way Ten feels like there’s eyes on them, so during one of their silent periods when Taeyong’s looking off into the distance, he subtly looks behind to see which of the Dreamies is following them. Two sets of outfits he hasn’t seen today; looks like it’s Jeno and Jaemin. 

They’re being pretty ballsy if he says so himself, walking a short distance from him and Taeyong. One wrong move and they may get caught. And of course a wrong move is made. 

“Wait, we took a wrong turn, it's back this way,” Taeyong says and turns around, walking back the way they came… meaning they’re walking right back into Jaemin and Jeno.

Ten sees Jeno freeze in place, holding out an arm to stop Jaemin, and sends a look of fear to him. Ten moves his shoulders up and down in a harsh shrug, teeth gritted. What else can he do, they’re trapped by the street on one side and the building on the other. Unless they’re Spiderman or want to know what it feels like to get hit by a car, they have nowhere to go. 

Jaemin and Jeno flail around in panic, looking for any sort of escape. Ten can only wallow in silent despair as he and Taeyong get closer; there’s no way their “disguises” will slide by if they stay exposed like that. He’s just glad that, so far, Taeyong hasn’t taken the time to really look at them; there’s still time to salvage their secrecy as long as the two can think of something. 

They’re just about to them when Jaemin’s face lights up with a hopefully cover-saving idea. Turning to Jeno, he shoves him to the side of the building with such force that Jeno has to brace his palms to the stone in support. Jaemin wastes no time removing the sunglasses from his face and jamming them onto his boyfriend’s, obscuring the latter’s recognizable eyes. A tug of his hat until it rests low on his head is the final move he makes before diving in to lock lips with Jeno.

Very intensely. 

It’s like they’re trying to eat each other’s faces off. Where did they learn how to kiss like that? Nevermind, he doesn’t want to know. All that matters is that their identities are safe.

Jaemin did a good job hiding their faces; if he didn’t know who they were already, he wouldn’t be able to recognize them. Still, Ten pointedly turns his head downwards when he and Taeyong pass by them. Thankfully, Taeyong takes only one short glance before jerking his head away from the passionate pair, cheeks flushing brightly. He releases an embarrassed cough when they get a good distance away, dragging Ten’s attention from where he’s been discreetly looking back at the two, who have returned to their normal stalking behavior.

“Love sure is something isn’t it…” 

Underneath the obvious awkwardness coating his tone, Ten notices there’s also a bit of affection and something else. Longing, perhaps? Probably not, he’s most likely projecting onto Taeyong what he wants to hear. Still, that would be nice. 

Their fingers brush against the other’s as they walk. When they brush against each other again, Taeyong’s pinky curls loosely against his own, almost as if he’s asking for permission, and Ten doesn’t need to think before he’s curling his into Taeyong’s friendly, and sadly platonic, touch. Taeyong is a naturally handsy person, touching his ear, his arm, his neck, his waist, his… a lot of things. It’s reassuring, comforting, warm. Whether he intends to or not, Taeyong exudes safety, love, and sincerity; that’s just the kind of person he is. And moments like this where he feels all of those things makes Ten fall in love with him over and over again. 

Ten giggles lightly, butterflies in his stomach as he looks down at their intertwined pinkies with a lovesick smile. 

“It really is.”

.

.

.

Hangang Park isn’t too crowded, which is exactly what Ten was hoping for. Right along the Han River waterline, cyclists and pedestrians make their way down a stone road. Groups of people enjoy the expansive grounds, lounging on blankets or outside of tents. There’s still plenty of space for him and Taeyong to have an area to themselves, giving them much needed privacy away from the prying eyes of others. 

Ten leads them to a spot closer to the river, just enough to get a good view of the water, but still a decent ways away from the stone path. They obviously didn’t bring anything to sit on, but the weather is perfect and the grass is neatly trimmed, so Ten flops onto his back to the greenery with a happy sigh and throws his hat off to the side. Taeyong follows suit after setting his bags down, not close enough for him to touch Ten’s arms where they lie a short bit from his sides, but enough for Ten to feel his close presence. 

“I haven’t come here in awhile.” Taeyong speaks up first, tone light.

Ten glances at him; Taeyong’s looking up with rapt attention, the bright blue sky reflecting in his big eyes. “From lack of time or interest?”

“Mostly time,” Taeyong admits, “I know I tend to space out and daydream when I’m outside, so this place would be too much of a distraction.”

“So it’s safe to say I’m special then, I’m the first of us to drag you here from that prison of a studio.” 

Taeyong laughs, high and carefree, the sound more beautiful than any choir or musical instrument. “Yeah, you’re special.”

“I know,” Ten cheekily replies, sitting upright with a confident smirk.

“Tennie, am I special to you?” Taeyong sing-songs, eyes gaining a mischievous glint as he lays on his side to look directly at him.

“You’re so-so,” Ten sing-songs back, chuckling at the cute pout that appears on Taeyong’s face. His adorable reactions are so worth teasing him for. 

“That’s okay, I don’t mind.” Taeyong sits up, looking pleased even with getting shot down. “I feel special when I can share this time with you and no one else.”

Ten’s clever retort dies on his lips in favor of sputtering out nonsense. Only Taeyong can say something so pure yet so flirty at the same time without realizing it. Sometimes, Taeyong counters him so easily, so effortlessly, it’s impossible to keep up his bravado. 

“You’re so— you can’t— ugh, shut up and get lost in the beauty of nature already.” Ten playfully shoves a laughing Taeyong away and brings his knees to his chest, tucking his chin between them. Diligently, he stares out at the river to avoid showing Taeyong the prominent blush high on his cheeks. Beside him, Taeyong’s breathless laughter dies down and he releases a content exhale, legs lax as he leans back onto his outstretched arms behind him.

They sit together like this for a bit longer, watching the water and lost in their own thoughts. It’s nice, really nice. Ten could stay like this for eternity if not for Taeyong’s voice breaking the lull in their conversation, soft like a gentle caress into wakefulness from a deep dream. 

“Ten?”

“Hm?” In the distance, children laugh as they run around, bicycle bells chime throughout the air. 

“I… have a question.” 

“Okay, shoot.” 

There’s a faint rustle as Taeyong shifts, sitting upright and removing his bucket hat before setting his hands to rest in his lap. “It’s a romantic question.” 

That gets Ten’s full attention. He maneuvers himself to face Taeyong, who crosses his legs and does the same. Ten points a finger to his own chest in surprise. “You want  _ my _ opinion on romance?” 

Taeyong nods. “Yeah. You’re…” A pause, then Taeyong lets out a tiny cough before continuing, “You’re confident about most anything, and you’re one of my closest friends—”

He’s just going to ignore the fact that Taeyong sort of just friend zoned him with that part. 

“— and I don’t have a long list of people I’ve dated, so I feel like I’m not well versed with the whole thing.”

He’s still processing the fact that Taeyong’s talking to him about romance. “Why do you want to talk about this now?” 

“I’m thinking about… the future, and this is something important that I need to deal with. I like someone—” Taeyong abruptly stops when he sees Ten’s eyes bulge. 

“You like someone!?” Ten shouts, before slapping a hand to his mouth when Taeyong’s eyes grow wide. Screaming to the public that an idol has a crush is just asking for Dispatch to come running. Ten leans forward and moves his hand to the side of his mouth, voice only a whisper, but carrying the same intensity as before. “You like someone!?”

Taeyong’s face quickly morphs into one of its natural concerned/panic expressions, eyebrows rising and mouth parting before he’s amending his words. 

“Wait, no! I meant to say  _ if  _ I liked someone, but they were leagues above anyone else I’ve ever been interested in, how would you go about telling them? I wouldn’t want to mess it up,” Taeyong finishes with a sheepish smile, words ripe with nervousness.

Taeyong… wants confession advice… from  _ him, _ the person who’s been trying to do that very thing with him. In a way, Ten supposes he would be a good person to ask for that exact same reason, but like, it feels awkward. So, so awkward. 

His face must be betraying his thoughts because Taeyong laughs, choppy and rushed, and runs a hand through his hair. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I understand how that was an out-of-the-blue question.”

“No… I can.” Ten heaves out a big breath of air and hunkers down like a parent about to give their child “the talk.” “This is a thing we’re doing right now. I guess I would first take into account what you’re comfortable with. Some people may want to make it a grand event, but it doesn’t have to be that. You’re on the introverted side —not like that’s a bad thing— so I would keep things simple, just talk to them in person I guess.”

“Simple… in person,” Taeyong parrots back, but then he frowns, fear lacing his words as they tumble out into the air. “But what if the person might think simple is boring!? What if the person is so cheerful and witty and funny and caring and outgoing and bold that he’d—  _ Imeanthey’d _ think it was lame.” 

“That’s a really long set of characteristics for this theoretical person,” Ten states slowly, questionably. 

“It’s not like I have anyone specific in mind. Not at all. I’m just thinking about all possible scenarios.” 

“Oh well, that still doesn’t change it. If this person is all of those things you listed, they sound like they would be okay with it. You do what’s good for you, because that will ensure you’ll be your most genuine self, if that makes sense?” Ten winks and throws Taeyong an exaggerated sultry look, trying to get him to relax from his nervous state. “Makes it more  _ romantic~ _ that way.”

The force of his smile has Ten’s eyes crinkling into crescents when his actions pay off; Taeyong’s eyes shut as breathless giggles wrack his body, tension disappearing. When Taeyong settles down, he sets his elbow on his knee, placing his chin in his palm, and gazes at Ten with warm eyes. “Thank you for the advice, Tennie.”

The way Taeyong is looking at him —all boyish charm coupled with genuine happiness— is doing  _ very  _ dangerous things to his heart, so Ten continues talking, hoping his pink cheeks can be taken as a product of the outside heat. “It can be as easy as one sentence. Just look them in the eyes and say  _ I love you, you like me? Nono? Then bye bye.” _

“Would you want to be confessed to that way?”

Ten’s cheeks burn harder, the sudden question sucking all the air from his lungs. Taeyong beams at him wordlessly, and continues to hold him in his expectant, curious gaze. 

“If I had an admirer, I wouldn’t care what they did as long as it’s not… too weird.” He’s not going to add that anything Taeyong would do would automatically be favorable to him x1000, because any confession from Taeyong would be like winning the lottery. “But then again, that’s me. You shouldn’t base all of your opinions and choices on what I would be happy with.”

Taeyong half-heartedly shrugs once he quiets, seemingly finding what he was looking for in that answer nevertheless his last words, eyes alight with interest. He still doesn’t talk, only smiles and stares at Ten, who squirms a bit under the scrutiny he’s now been warranted to. He can’t tell whether that’s an amused smile, an innocent smile, or something completely different; with Taeyong, it could be anything. 

“Taeyong, what is the meaning of all this?”

“I love you Ten,” Taeyong suddenly declares, words as clear as the cloudless blue sky above them, voice unwavering. A light breeze blows by them, ruffling Taeyong’s hair about his softening eyes filled with passion. 

“Do you like me?”

Ten’s brain short circuits. 

“Umm…”

I love you. Those words came from Taeyong’s lips, and were directed at him. After all this work he’s done, Taeyong actually said it first. His mind is whirling, emotions tangling and mixing together to create a concoction that at first feels like static, but soon concentrates into one overall feeling: elation. 

It’s reciprocated. His love is reciprocated. It’s so stunning, Ten can feel that his eyes are still wide open, mouth parted, and he’s probably been silent for longer than expected, but it’s like his mind is separate from his body. He could cry, he could scream, he could laugh, he could, no  _ should, _ actually speak up and tell Taeyong he loves him too, that he’s been waiting to say it when the time was perfect. 

“Taeyong, oh my god, I—”

Taeyong’s face falls for a split second before his smile returns. He grins, cheeks puffing out and pearly whites on display as he hastily laughs at Ten’s stunned expression. “Your face is so red! Was that a good example of how I should say it? Sorry if that made you uncomfortable.”

Ten’s brain short circuits again. 

“W-What?”

“Duck!” 

Reflexively, Taeyong’s head jerks downward to follow the sudden command, opening Ten’s sight to the previously blocked space in front of him. In the near distance, something seems to be coming towards him. Actually, hurtling towards him would probably be a better way to put it. Ten narrows his eyes against the glare of the sun, trying to get a clearer look at the unknown projectile. The shape looks to be spherical… oh, it’s a kick ball. 

…

It’s a  _ kick ball— _

Still reeling from Taeyong’s impromptu declaration of love and then the subsequent disappointment to end all disappointments, a sharp intake of breath is the only reaction Ten has time to make before it’s hitting its mark right smack-dab in the center of his face. A high pitched yelp escapes his mouth and he ungracefully falls backwards, limbs flailing, as it ricochets off somewhere to the side. 

Vaguely, beneath the sudden pain rendering him frozen against the grass, Ten makes out Taeyong’s alarmed voice calling his name and quickly shoves the torrent of emotions that threatens to replace any sense of composure he has left to the back of his mind. He’ll… deal with that later. For now, he forces his hands up to his face before the other can see the damage. Long fingers grab onto his shoulders and he gets pulled up into a sitting position. When Ten opens his eyes, disoriented as hell, the blurry outlines of the attack’s supposed culprits run toward them. One of them calls out. 

“Are you guys okay? Sorry, my friend kicked the ball too hard and lost control of his aim.”

The voice is low, and while hurried, has a baseline relaxed quality to it. It’s familiar. Is that Jaehyun’s voice?

They really are meeting everyone from 127 today. Who’s left, Doyoung? 

“I’m so sorry, do you need any medical assistance? Yong? What are you doing out here with… oh thank god, it’s just Ten.”

He should have just sat there and stopped at Jaehyun. 

“What do you mean it’s  _ just  _ Ten,” Ten snarks back when Doyoung’s lanky build stops a few feet away, glaring over his hands as they cover his potentially screwed up nose, “Hate to tell you but like any other person, I don’t exactly like getting hit in the head with a kickball.”

Speaking of getting hit in the head.

“Fuck, it hurts,” Ten groans and presses onto the sensitive cartilage, making sure to keep it hidden still while trying to get a general sense of how bad it must be. The entire center of his face aches, but miraculously, nothing feels broken or hurts too bad. He’s probably going to walk away relatively fine, albeit his nose will definitely be sore for the next few days. 

Taeyong crouches beside him, one hand firmly supporting his back as the other hovers anxiously in the air above his face, fingers twitching to help. “He didn’t mean it that way.” Then, with a harder tone —his “leader” voice— “Doie?”

“Both of you don’t need to get so worked up. Of course I didn’t mean it that way, I was relieved I hit a friend and not a random civilian. That would have been a PR nightmare,” Doyoung sighs, but a look of guilt is clear on his face. Jaehyun reaches Doyoung and they both watch as Taeyong turns his attention back to Ten. 

“Tennie, can you move your hands please? We need to treat your injury,” Taeyong tries, voice soft and soothing. 

Ten shakes his head, eyes widening when he feels some wetness flow out of his nostrils. “There may be blood.”

“All the more reason to let me see.”

“What if it looks ugly?”

Taeyong smiles, placing a hand to his chest as if swearing the truth. “You could never look ugly.”

There’s no point in fighting him. Jaehyun and Doyoung both wince when Taeyong finally coaxes Ten to move his hands away to reveal red staining his fingers and the skin below his nose. 

“Ew.” Ten grimaces when the telltale metallic tang meets his lips, swiping his tongue out to lick up at the blood. There’s a low noise of presumed disapproval from Taeyong, eyes flickering to his mouth, face oddly unreadable. Ten curiously watches as Taeyong’s eyes slowly ascend to meet his own. The second they meet, Taeyong turns his head and backs away from Ten like he’d been burned. 

Ten frowns, disappointed by their loss of contact. If his nose looks that bad he could have just told him. 

“Oh yeah, I was going to— I have some tissues for that, I’ll be right back, don't move please,” Taeyong hastily commands before he shuffles over to his bags, rummaging around through the contents. 

Now alone, Ten stares calmly at Doyoung, who focuses on a point just above his head, avoiding his eyes. Jaehyun looks between the two, and sensing some tension, motions off in the general direction the ball bounced to. “I’m just gonna go and see if I can’t find the ball.” 

Doyoung grabs onto his arm, but the younger shakes out of his hold with a wry smile. After giving Ten a sympathy shrug, Jaehyun wanders away. 

Doyoung moves his gaze directly to meet Ten’s. “Look, I know what you’re thinking. I really am sorry and I could have worded my initial response better. In no way am I happy that I hit you.”

Ten blinks up at him, face neutral except for a single eyebrow raise, causing Doyoung to let out a whine. “Ten, don’t do this.  _ Please.”  _

“And what am I doing exactly?” 

“You know,” Doyoung says accusingly, “You’re being mean.”

“How so?” 

“You’re still not accepting my apology, even though you know I genuinely mean it.” Doyoung gasps when the beginnings of a smirk appears on Ten’s lips. “See!? You’re messing with me, like—”

“A cat?” Ten supplies, picking at his nails with mock interest. Peering up, Ten tilts his head, scrutinizing Doyoung’s face. “Bunnies are fun to play with, Doie. And I think if the cat got injured by the bunny, then the bunny has no authority to tell the cat whether they should accept or not.”

“Jae, you fucking ditcher,” Doyoung mutters under his breath. He squints his eyes at Ten, giving him a once over. “He really must like you, I couldn’t handle your teasing. Guess it’s true sometimes opposites attract.”

Somehow, Ten knows he’s not talking about Jaehyun. Ten sits up straighter, latching onto his words. “What did you say?” 

“That Jae ditched me?”

“No… well yeah, he did, but I’m not talking about that part, what was that second part?”

“Oh, now you want to listen to me seriously. I thought you wanted to mess with me more,” Doyoung asks, a taunting lit to his voice as Ten glowers. Doyoung is one of his friends that Ten himself finds it a bit surprising they are friends. Personality-wise, they can clash, Ten’s mischievous one versus Doyoung’s straight-laced one, which can lead to situations like this. However, the times when they don’t drive each other crazy can be fun. He respects Doyoung’s drive and “take no shit” attitude. Doyoung’s also great at sarcasm and clap backs, which is quite entertaining.

“Okay I’m over it, apology accepted,” Ten relents, blanching when blood starts to drip from his nose again. “Now what did you mean someone likes me?” 

It doesn’t matter if he has an admirer —he only has eyes for one person— but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested still.

“I should not have said that.”

“Why not?” Ten tips his head up to stare at the sky. He must look ridiculous. “I’m going to find out anyway, might as well tell me now so I can come up with a good way to turn them down.” 

“Don’t say that,” Doyoung bemoans and brings a hand to his hair, pulling at the strands. “What did I do in my past life to get involved with this?” 

“So who is it? Someone in the group? Another group? Non-idol?” 

Doyoung resolutely shakes his head. “I’m not telling you.”

“You’re mean.” Ten pouts, confusion mounting to record heights. First Taeyong’s asking him strange questions, now Doyoung’s keeping something from him. “Taeyong’s already talked to me about romance, which I was definitely not expecting. I don’t need you making me anymore confused.”

It’s obvious that his statement hits a nerve with Doyoung, who forgoes their little squabble to sit down where Taeyong was, legs folded neatly underneath him. 

“Romance?” 

“I was just talking to him.” Ten regrets his choice of words now that Doyoung seems to have taken a suspicious interest in their affairs. He lowers his chin and pinches the soft part of his nose to stop the bleeding, looking away when he’s met with Doyoung’s eager gaze. “Nothing crazy.”

“What about romance _?” _

“Just general stuff.” 

“Pertaining to him? To you?”

He doesn’t want to tell Doyoung about what occurred during his and Taeyong’s earlier conversation. “It wasn’t anything specific.”

Why is Taeyong taking so long to come back? Ten looks past Doyoung to where Taeyong is still searching through his bags. “Hyung, did you find anything? My nose is still bleeding.” 

“Um… I seem to have misplaced them. Give me a few more seconds.” Ten resists the urge to groan. 

“Was it about something special?” Doyoung asks, continuing his barrage of questions much to Ten’s chagrin. 

“Uh, no?” 

“Did Taeyong bring you out here and specify he just wanted you with him?” 

“What,” Ten sputters, “No, I asked him because I wanted to hang out. And why does that matter? We all often hang out in pairs, you’re here with just Jaehyun.”

Doyoung’s shaking his head before Ten is even finished. “It‘s not the same.” He looks down at the ground, silent, before shaking his head again and giving Ten an eye roll. “It’s definitely not the same.” 

“Okay, I am so lost right now. Why am I getting subjected to a game of twenty questions?”

“I’m trying to see if he told you what I hope he told you without actually revealing what he may or may not have told you in case he didn’t tell you.”

“I really don’t need you to give me a headache. My nose hurts enough as is.” 

Doyoung sighs. “He’s going to be mad, but this has gone on for too long. I don’t know if he wanted you to know anytime within the next decade because he’s being stupid so I’m taking the next step for him. What I’m trying to say is did he finally tell you—”

Whatever Doyoung was going to say gets cut off as Taeyong tackles him from behind, arms wrapping around his torso. Ten scrambles backwards, narrowly avoiding getting crushed by the two as they tumble to the grass. Taking advantage of his friend’s shock, Taeyong easily lifts himself and Doyoung back into upright positions, knees on the ground as Doyoung absolutely seethes in his hold.

“Doie, I think that’s enough chit-chat.” There’s a strained edge to his voice that wasn’t there before; Ten can’t place a plausible reason as to why it’s there. 

What he can place is the small stab of jealousy in his gut at the sight of Taeyong hugging Doyoung, even if it's more of a weird restraining embrace than a loving hug. 

Doyoung yanks his face away in order to glare at Taeyong, who meets his stare, eyes equally hard. They don’t communicate, at least through speaking, and Ten can’t help but think if Taeyong has that special connection with only Doyoung, his best friend…

Now that he thinks about it, Doyoung is witty… and bold… and probably funny and outgoing and caring… Ten wouldn’t exactly call him cheerful but then again that may be because most of the time he’s been around Doyoung he riles him up. Not like Doyoung is with Taeyong… 

He should really stop thinking.

“I’m back, I found the ball.” Jaehyun walks up, conveniently appearing once all of the drama is over. He stops and drops the ball, taking in Taeyong and Doyoung’s staredown and Ten’s stricken expression. “Did something happen between you guys?” 

“No,” Taeyong states, breaking his eye contact with Doyoung. A glance at Ten has him doing a double take, then he’s shoving Doyoung to the side and rushing forward into Ten’s personal space. 

“What am I doing, you’re still bleeding.” Taeyong produces a pack of tissues and carefully starts dabbing at his nose. Ten leans away from his touch, hand darting out to grab the tissue. 

“I can do it myself.” 

“But…” 

Taeyong gives him a sad, nervous glance, but keeps his hands to himself and doesn’t try to do anything else. The guilt that sours his mood is warranted; Ten knows Taeyong’s just trying to help, he shouldn’t take his frustration out on him over his jealous speculations. Taeyong and Doyoung have been friends for a long time, they’re bound to be close. It’s admirable that they can share such a strong bond together, and no matter the nature of it, he’s just hating on it because he has feelings for Taeyong. 

Why does this crush have to make him so childish, so perverse? It’s quite annoying not being in control of his emotions 100% of the time like he’s used too, forcing him to deal with these situations with the emotional maturity of a teenager. 

Quickly psyching himself out of it, Ten focuses on making his face decently presentable. A face check with his phone’s camera reveals only a red nose, no more blood. Ten turns his attention to his shirt and looks down to see rust colored blood spots dot the front. 

“Oh…” Ten sighs, hands dropping to the ground. There’s no way that’s coming out. 

“Don’t worry. Umm…” Taeyong’s brows furrow and his gaze unfocuses as he thinks of a solution. It’s not long before he perks up, energized, and quickly stands. “I saw some tourist gift shops back towards the park entrance.”

Ten automatically knows what he’s thinking of doing. “Hey, wait. I don’t need a new shirt. I’ll be fine.”

Jaehyun places a hand on Taeyong’s arm. “Hyung, it’s just a little blood, no one will look twice. Just stay. We all should just sit and hang out for a little while, it’s nice.”

“No, I don’t mind. I’ll go and get you a clean shirt to wear.” Ignoring their protests, Taeyong jogs towards where they entered the park from, looking back only to yell “Stay there I’ll be back soon!” and then he disappears into the distance.

Jaehyun lets out a resigned exhale and walks over to Doyoung.

“That’s our leader, always looking out for us no matter the reason.” Jaehyun lowers himself to lay his head on Doyoung’s leg, who doesn’t even flinch at the move. He closes his eyes and folds his hands above his stomach. “I feel like he would have gone even if I had volunteered to go.” 

Doyoung lets out a tiny sound in agreement, and looks down at the younger. “He’s such a hard headed person, especially when it comes to certain things.” 

A gleeful look appears on Jaehyun’s face that Ten decidedly does not like. It’s a face he knows well, it’s the face of someone who has juicy information and knows it. “Or people.” 

“Or people!” Doyoung laughs, nose scrunching up like a bunny’s as Jaehyun cracks a grin, his cute set of dimples on full display, and peers up at Doyoung. 

“Am I wrong?”

Ten frowns when Doyoung side eyes him, meaning that they haven’t forgotten he’s still right there, and laughs a bit more. So they’re leaving him out of their conversation not unintentionally, but on purpose. 

“No, you aren’t. It’s just…” Another side glance to him, “You know—”

“Your other friend Ten doesn’t know,” Ten butts in. “But he would like to know please.”

The grin on Jaehyun’s face freezes, and he suddenly lifts his head off of Doyoung’s leg to stare at Ten. “He doesn’t know yet?”

“Yep,” Doyoung answers, voice passive, “Yong made it pretty clear that he didn’t want my interference, so I didn’t tell him.”

“Did he now.” Jaehyun blinks and lays back down with a low sigh. “That’s unfortunate.” 

“Please,” Ten whines, “Tell me what’s going on with Taeyong and what it has to do with me. Also, who likes me?”

“Ten,” There’s an amused ring to his name when Jaehyun calls out to him, giving Ten the impression that his naïveté to their ambiguous talk is something akin to a parent laughing their ass off when their kid believes something stupid because they don’t know any better. “You don’t want to hear it from us.” 

Ten narrows his eyes. “Try me.”

“Just… be patient with Taeyong, yeah? He’s trying his best,” Jaehyun finally says after glancing at Doyoung. And with that cryptic response, that’s that on the matter, much to Ten’s frustration. With a miffed exhale, he turns his attention to the area in front of them, letting silence reign over them. 

After a couple minutes, a trio of bikes ride up and park on the walkway space in front of them. Three cyclists hop off and as they walk closer to Ten’s trio, he can recognize one of their signature grins instantly. 

“Jaemin!” The two others with him unclip their helmets to reveal Jeno and Renjun. 

“Well if it isn’t our hyungs! Isn’t it a small world,” Jaemin laughs, plopping down onto the grass with an exaggerated ‘oof.’ “We’ve been ridin’ around for ages, am I exhausted or what.”

It’s kind of worrying how good the Dreamies have become at lying now. 

Doyoung extends his hands out to Jeno. “Jeno, come say hi.” Jeno sits on the other side of him not occupied by Jaehyun and gladly hugs him, showing off his eye smiles to one of his favorite hyungs. “Hi Doyoung hyung.”

As Jaemin and Jeno chatter on about their fabricated cycling adventures to Doyoung and Jaehyun, Renjun goes over to Ten and lowers himself to the ground beside him. His face contorts into a confused grimace once he gets a good look at the latter’s condition. Wordlessly, he taps his nose and touches his shirt.

Ten shrugs at him. “Kickball.”

“How does this happen to you,” Renjun asks. “I feel like we need to keep you on one of those kid safety leashes.”

“I doubt any of you could have predicted any of what occurred today.” 

“Did you at least get your confession out to Taeyong hyung?” 

He almost did, but now he’s kind of glad it didn’t go through given what was said directly after. “No, I didn’t.”

“Where even is he?”

“Good question,” Ten throws his hands into the air aimlessly, gesturing all around them, “that’s what I’d like to know too. He’s off somewhere being his perfect selfless self.”

“Okay… there’s still time left, it’s only the afternoon. We can get rid of Doyoung hyung and Jaehyun hyung before Taeyong hyung comes back if you want to salvage this, your call though.” 

Does he want to keep at it though? He’s still not sure if Taeyong even likes him that way. If he would have gotten his complete sentence out, what would Taeyong have done? Would he have laughed like he did, but this time out of pity? This is getting so… tiring. 

“I don’t know, I really don’t know at this point,” Ten laughs, harsh and biting. It sounds a lot less flippant and a lot more disheartened than he wanted it to come out. 

“Where’s all that confidence you always have?” 

“It left my body along with a quarter of my blood.”

Renjun scoffs. “I see your sarcasm is still as strong as ever.” 

“What do you think I should do?” Ten inquires. While he is just as wild as the others, Renjun can be a bit more level-headed at times. And right now, he could use some encouragement.

For a moment, Renjun looks just as uncertain as Ten feels, but in the end, what comes out of his mouth is it’s direct antithesis. “We’re going to continue the plan. We promised to help you, and that’s what we’re going to do until the end. I want to see you happy, hyung.”

He is not going to cry from the raw dedication and sincerity in his statement. Even through all of their antics and crazy ideas, it’s heartwarming to know that this isn’t just some game to them. Ten ruffles Renjun’s hair and smiles. “Then the stage is all yours.”

Renjun smiles back before clearing his throat. “Jaem, Jeno, come here for a sec.”

The three huddle together, eyes and whispers flitting between them, before nodding once and breaking apart. 

“I think we’re going to go out and get a bit more exercise,” Jaemin says. He and Renjun extend their goodbyes and leave for their bikes, but Jeno moves to stand in front of Doyoung. 

“Doyoung hyung, we didn’t bring any money with us, but we’re really thirsty. Can I have some money?” 

“Sure.” Doyoung takes out his wallet and opens it, taking out a piece of plastic. “I only have my credit card with me.”

“Jae, give them some money,” He prodes the younger man with a few pokes but Jaehyun stops him with a light shove. “I don’t have any either.”

“Ten?”

“Same, sorry,” Ten lies, smooth as silk. For some reason, his senses are telling him that was the correct answer. 

Doyoung runs a hand over his face and sticks out his wallet for Jeno to take. “Here you can borrow my card, just bring it back before you guys leave.” 

“T-Thanks!” Jeno grabs the wallet and awkwardly stands in front of them for a few more seconds before pivoting around and bolting away. 

With his arm still out in the air, Doyoung‘s voice cracks as he releases a weak, “What?”

“Jeno! Did you get it!”

In response, Jeno holds up the abducted leather wallet.

“What.” Lightning fast, Doyoung turns his head down to Jaehyun, who stares at Jeno’s back with a stunned expression. “What just happened.”

“He took your wallet,” Ten says bluntly, leaning back on his hands as Doyoung pushes Jaehyun off of him and scrambles up to his feet. Sending them off with a wave and a smirk, he adds, “I’d get going if I were you, once they get on their bikes it’s gonna be a lot harder to catch up.”

“This is so unbelievably stupid!” Doyoung shouts, but nevertheless breaks into a sprint down the greenery after Jeno. Jaemin’s enthusiastic cheering soon morphs into alarmed arm waving when he notices Doyoung starting to give chase. 

“Jeno! Babe! No pressure but you might wanna book it! And don’t look behind you!” 

Jeno looks back. 

“Doyoung hyung, please stop chasing me! I have to do this!” 

“No you don’t!”

“Shouldn’t you be going to?” Ten asks as Jaehyun makes no effort to join in on the action. An angry cry rises from Doyoung, causing a few curious stares from other pedestrians. “He seems to be having a bit of trouble.” 

“Hey Doie, wait up!” Jaehyun shouts and half heartedly jogs towards the walkway where Doyoung now has Jeno’s bike held hostage. In a surprise attack, Doyoung relinquishes the bike and lunges towards Jeno just as he throws the wallet to a passing Renjun. 

“Renjun! Not you too!” 

Ten soon discovers that watching the Dreamies mess with Doyoung and Jaehyun makes for prime time-killing entertainment. It’s during a particularly suspenseful showdown between Jaemin, the current wallet holder, and Jaehyun, that footsteps and heavy panting announce the return of Taeyong. 

“Sorry for… making you… wait—”

“Shush, it’s getting good.” 

Bewildered, Taeyong turns and almost falls over in shock as he’s faced with the chaos between their members. Jaehyun nearly manages to grab Jaemin’s bike, but the latter puts on a burst of speed and pedals further down the road, Renjun and Jeno close behind, causing Doyoung and Jaehyun to unwillingly follow on foot.

“That was too crazy,” Ten says in between giggles, “They are going to be in so much trouble when Doyoung gets his hands on them.”

“I have no context as to what's going on but I feel like I should go after them, what if something happens,” Taeyong worries as their energized banter moves farther away. 

Playfully, Ten reaches out to him with grabby hands. “Stay, they’ll grow bored with their game soon enough. Besides, don’t you have something for me?” 

“Oh y-yeah, I took so long because I was looking for plain black T-shirts because I know you like those, but they only had these.” With a dejected frown, Taeyong holds open a white T-shirt to reveal the most touristy line to ever exist, “I ❤️ Seoul,” centered on it in bold.

Ten tries to keep his cringe to himself, letting a semi-forced smile out instead. “That’s okay.” 

Upon seeing Taeyong’s frown deepen and subtly turn as if he’s going to  _ go back,  _ he hastily adds, “A shirt’s a shirt. Thanks Yongie, you did great.” 

Taeyong practically deflates with relief and returns his smile with a hesitant one of his own. Ten gives him two thumbs up for extra effect, before promptly grabbing the bottom of his shirt and lifting it up, exposing his chest. 

The strangled noise Taeyong makes immediately after has him pausing, arms raised over his head causing the shirt to block his view. Ten lowers it back down until his eyes just peek over the material to see Taeyong’s frozen wide-eyed expression, teeth biting on his bottom lip. With stiff movements, Taeyong steps until he’s standing in front of him, shielding him from most of the public’s view. 

“I-I can turn around, but I thought you might want some privacy,” Taeyong stutters softly, moving his gaze to the side. “Or not, whatever you want. I was just thinking— I can move.” 

In the back of his mind, Ten knows that it’ll only be a few more seconds that his chest will be uncovered, but Taeyong’s just so gentlemanly and sweet that he can’t find it in his heart to deny him. 

“No, it’s okay, you’re okay. I really appreciate it,” Ten answers back just as nervously, heart a jack hammer in his chest, and with clammy hands, finishes removing his old shirt and putting on the tacky one. 

Taeyong turns his face back to Ten after resolutely staring at anything but him, and chuckles at the sight he’s greeted with. Ten laughs and pats the lettering.

“Do I look like a true foreigner now?” 

“I never thought I'd see you wear something like that,” Taeyong says. He hesitates a moment before settling down next to Ten and, without warning, wraps his arm around his shoulders. “Ah, it’s kind of crazy how this day turned out…” 

“Y-Yeah,” Ten wheezes, gay panic setting in as his senses are zeroed in on the arm enveloping him. This is a very dangerous position to be in. “Sorry it didn’t go exactly as I had planned. We can still go somewhere else if you want.” 

Taeyong turns to look at him, a genuine frown marring his usually serene expression. “There’s nothing to apologize for. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I was due for a break.” 

The reassurance does nothing to change Ten’s opinion on the matter. Ten looks away from Taeyong to hide his downtrodden pout. There’s a sigh from Taeyong, the Ten finds himself being pulled closer until their arms are flush against each other.

“I really enjoyed today, this was more than enough. Now, I think it’s your turn to have a rest,” Taeyong whispers, using his hand to guide Ten’s head to lay on his shoulder. 

Slowly, Taeyong starts to hum a random, made-up tune. As Ten stares out at the gentle river waves, he can feel exhaustion’s tempting hold start to overtake him. The whole day’s events come falling down onto him like a sugar crash: the social interruptions, the emotional rollercoasters, the stuffy nose ache…  _ that  _ event.

Right then and there, Ten makes the executive decision to fuck it all and just breathe _.  _ Breathe and sit with Taeyong in their own little bubble as the Dreamies play hot potato with Jaehyun and Doyoung’s wallets. 

Closing his eyes, Ten presses further into Taeyong’s shoulder and feels his consciousness slipping into a welcomed rest. It’s in this limbo, where subconscious thought merges with real life as a sort of fuzzy haze settles like thick cotton, that Ten lets his innermost desires take control of his mind. 

He imagines an exhale of breath as Taeyong stops humming. He imagines the featherlight brush of fingers against his cheek. He imagines the press of lips against his hair. He imagines the whisper of his name, filled with devotion, spoken so low it’s carried off with the breeze almost instantly. 

And for now, that’s enough. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don’t know what to expect for the next chapter’s length or release date. I know for sure I’m not posting another story unless I already have the entire thing written bc this gap in updates was wack.


End file.
